Völva
by Snowberryxoxo
Summary: Klaus thought he had everything; eternal life, supernatural powers, wealth... He was one of The Originals – the leader in fact – but he was never lucky when it came to love, until he met an extraordinary human girl in France 1714. Klaus/OC
1. Prologue

Vampire Diaries - Völva

_**A/N: This is my fourth fanfic :D I hope you like it, please review and please check out my other Vampire Diaries fanfics named "The Oracle" and its sequel "The Sanctuary", and I've also written a Dexter fanfic named "Born In Blood". **_

_**I ****e****ssentially wanted to make this story, because I've seen that there aren't many Klaus/OC stories in Fanfiction, but then I changed it to a Klaus/OC/Damon, because... I'm not quite sure why, but I thought it would be interesting ;b**_

_****__I will be updating this story in the weekends, because currently I'm updating "The Sanctuary" five times a week. _

_**I do not own Vampire Diaries or any of its characters, but I do own the self-made main character and I'll try to avoid making the VD characters too much OOC, but I can't promise anything ;) **_

_**Again, enjoy and please review - reviews make me a better writer! :D**_

_**xoxo Ascha **_

Prologue:

**France, June 16 1714**

**Klaus's POV:**

"_Isn't it a lovely day today?" she asked, looking up towards the shining sun and enjoying the calm breeze, tingling on her beautiful skin. _

"_Yes, it is a very lovely day today, but we really should be going back to your home. Your parents will not be pleased if we miss dinner." I answered firmly, gazing intensely at the way she moved her hands and feet in the knee-high grass._

"_Oh, rubbish I say! Let them eat their dinner. I want to play and enjoy the weather, and I surely hope that you will accompany me, Lord Blackbourne. Or are you not capable of having fun?"_

_I stopped walking and so did she, but she kept twirling her white umbrella playfully and was smiling brightly. There was something about her charm and wit, which made me feel so… excited and alive. I used to think that she was just like any other fine, young lady, but clearly I was wrong. She was a free-thinker and did what she __felt__ like rather than just obeying her parents and do what they told her to do._

"_So? Are you joining me, Lord Blackbourne?" she asked and giggled in a sweet tone that I couldn't resist._

_I nodded, took her under my arm, and continued walking with her through the field of red and pink roses towards the old lake near her home. I noticed a swing, hanging from a branch of the big oak tree where I remembered gazing at her for the very first time. I was sitting in my carriage and on my way to her parents' home when she caught my eyes, walking around in a beige colored dress that really suited her long, blonde hair and plucking all the white flowers she could find._

_But now I was back again at her parents' old chateau out in the country and had some business to attend with her father Jacques. Her parents were vampires as well, but she was not, because she was adopted. She did not know what her parents were or what I was, but she only knew that I was a very rich Englishman from London named Klaus Blackbourne. _

"_Your English has really improved since the last time I met you, Miss De Sauveterre," I complimented and saw the smile on her lips grow bigger. She even blushed a bit, but remained calm and thanked me in French. "Have you been taking more English lessons?"_

"_Yes, I have actually, but I have also been practicing a lot and listen very carefully to every word that comes out from your mouth," she admitted and I could tell by the way she explained it that she had grown fond of me the past few months I had been staying in France. "But… I reckon that I still have a lot to learn, am I right?"_

_I nodded, impressed by how easily and fast she had learned to speak in English when she was just 17 years old and had never actually been to England before. But I quite enjoyed listening to her beautiful voice – especially when she was singing to her family and me. Though, it was times like these where I wondered why her father hadn't married her off to a fine, young gentleman or even spoken about marriage with me. Maybe he was saving her to someone specific, whom was on his mind right now?_

"_Lord Blackbourne, may I ask you of something rather… personal?" Miss De Sauveterre asked worriedly, while taking a seat on the swing. _

_I stood behind her with each hand on the ropes that tied the swing to the branch and just began pushing her gently. I tried to reckon what she could possibly ask me before I had even answered her first question. And when I couldn't come up with a good enough theory to what she wanted to know I just sighed weakly._

"_Of course." I said hesitantly and let my eyes trail down to her beautiful, long and curled pale, blonde hair completely dazed by the sight of her exposed neck even though I had promised not to bite her._

"_Why haven't you married yet? I suppose you are a very attractive and fine man, but you still wander from one beautiful woman to another instead of settling with one woman…" she said._

"_Wander?" I repeated with a lifted eyebrow and stopped pushing her swing. _

_She turned to me and looked worried as if she thought that she had just used the wrong word again more than that she was indicating that I was just another man, looking for a woman to satisfy my bodily needs. Of course I knew that she was just curious and hadn't experienced love before, but I had and sometimes it was beautiful, while other times it just wasn't meant to be._

"_Well, I reckon I simply haven't found the right woman or girl yet," I teased and gently stroke her cheek, making her flush rapidly. I could hear her heart race and pump blood into her veins, making me hungrier and hungrier by the minute. If she had not been the adoptive daughter of a very good friend of mine, then I would never have let her to live another day. "Let us go back to your parents' home now, shall we?"_

_I offered her my arm and she gladly took it, then walked back home with me with her heart still racing and her cheeks still blushing. Of course I knew that she fallen for me and enjoyed spending time with me on sunny days like today, but I couldn't exploit this infatuation she had to me in any way as long as she was a human and Lord and Lady De Sauveterre's adoptive daughter._

_Though, when we returned to the old chateau and found our way to the dining room where the couple were waiting patiently for us to arrive, I could hear that the young Fleurette had calmed down and see that she was acting like a proper lady, but it was only because she was in the presences of her parents. _

"_Fleurette, this is the last time you're delaying my meeting with Lord Blackbourne," Jacques said angrily as we took a seat at the dinner table. "As punishment you can go upstairs and stay in your bedroom, until I say you can come out. And if you behave I might let you have some dinner as well."_

_Fleurette's eyes widened. "But father–"_

"_No, but. Go upstairs. Now!" he interrupted, pointing towards the staircase._

_She sighed heavily, but did as she was told and went upstairs to her bedroom without saying a word. I knew that Jacques held her in a very short leash and he would usually hit her if she didn't do as told, but I did not complain about his harsh way of raising a young girl like her. Children needed to be held with a firm hand and were supposed to respect their parents by obeying. _

"_She can be a handful at times, but without her people will know we're vampires," Jacques said and smirked devilishly. "But now we can talk in private about another 17-year-old girl. I have heard from my resources in Scandinavia that Katerina Petrova is hiding there in Denmark. She is planning on going to Germany for a while."_

"_Germany? In that case I think we need to get Elijah there," I said, while the maid poured up a glass of royal blood. It was like caviar to The Originals and was only to be drunk on special occasions like these. "Have you found the sunstone as well?"_

_Jacques's wife Giselle nodded and took out the stone from a hidden pocket in her beautiful blue and white gown that complemented her long, dark red hair and blue-grayish eyes._

_The sunstone. _

_I was more focused on them getting the sunstone than getting my revenge on Katerina for running away and becoming a vampire, because I had to make sure that the werewolves weren't able to break the curse of the sun and the moon. Sadly, Katerina ran away with the moonstone and I needed that one as much as I needed this one. But my attention was turned to Fleurette when I heard the sound of her sneaking down the stairs, listening carefully to what we were talking about._

_I simply smiled and asked rhetorically: "Fleurette, have you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat?"_

_Fleurette walked hesitantly towards just, looking frightened, but at the same time curious and wondering. I myself wondered how long she had been listening unnoticed to our conversations and how much she exactly had heard. It wasn't a problem that she heard the truth, because we could always just compel her, but if she had heard everything, then we might have to have a little talk with her._

"_No, but how can curiosity kill a cat?" Fleurette asked curiously._

_I smiled brighter and chuckled. She didn't know better and was still just a young girl after all. Calmly, I left the table and went to her, making her keep her eyes locked on mine. She wasn't afraid of me and I knew why. She had grown too fond of me to run away._

"_How much do you know about your parents and me?" I asked her with her mind under my control._

"_Only that you are all hiding something from me. Something about blood and the sunstone…" she answered automatically._

"_Good. Forget what you heard and go back to your bedroom."_

_She did as she was told and I watched her as she went back upstairs, not looking back even once. I went back to her parents and sat down at the table, taking the sunstone in to my hands and feeling its power overwhelming me, but I was able to handle the power and just enjoyed the feeling of being in control of the situation._

_Sadly, my joy was short, because this time I could hear that a group of vampire hunters were nearing the chateau, screaming and making a fool out of themselves. Jacques and Giselle quickly called their maids and told them to lock the doors so the crowd couldn't get in, but they were too late. The crowd kicked the door inside and staked the maids, because they thought they were vampires too. _

_Of course we could easily kill the crowd if we wanted to, but unfortunately they were prepared for this and used something that forced us down on our knees, making a painful sound in our ears. I managed to get up on my feet before they staked me and quickly ran upstairs in a blur, leaving my old friends behind. _

_They had told me to take Fleurette with me instead of saving them and that was exactly what I did. I owed them a favor now since they had gotten the sunstone to me and I didn't want Fleurette to die either, because she didn't deserve it. So I compelled her to follow me and fled with her in my arms, running as fast as I possibly could towards the nearest town. _

_It wasn't only us that had been attacked that night. Almost every vampire in Vienne was dead or being taken to a tomb to be burned 'till death. Though, I didn't care about them right now, because I had to focus on getting away with the sunstone. _

"_Klaus, what is happening? Where are my parents?" Fleurette asked, being no longer under my compulsion as we left Vienne in a carriage._

"_They are dead, Fleurette!" I snapped, putting my rage accidentally towards the humans on her._

_Fleurette broke down crying so I apologized and just held her close, trying my best to comfort her even though I couldn't care less about her feelings. I was furious and wanted to make every human alive suffer for killing my brothers and sisters. Humans were the true monsters here and as long as they were alive I would never stop trying to break the curse of the sun and the moon._

"_Why, Klaus? Why did they have to die too?" Fleurette whispered with tears running down her cheeks and her body was shaking, reminding me that her biological parents were also dead._

"_Because… because we are vampires, Fleurette," I said and it felt as if her heart just skipped a beat. She looked up at me, but I didn't compel her to forget the fear or pain she was feeling right now. She needed to remember this day if she was going to help me and become a vampire too. I did dry her tears away though and smiled by the thought of me being able to let her in to my world now that her parents were dead. "Sleep now. We are going on a long trip and if you stay with me I can show you everything you want to see, starting by going to England."_

"_England?" she repeated and looked so worried for a moment. _

_But she closed her eyes, rested her head on my shoulder and went to sleep, trusting that I wouldn't harm her in any way. After all… she couldn't just stop loving me the way she did._


	2. A Little Drinking Problem

**_A/N: Hi, thanks for your reviews, for favoriting, subscribing etc... _**

**_Here's chapter 1, I hope you like it and please review! :D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 1:

**Mystic Falls, October 15 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

"Welcome to Mystic Falls, Mel! It's great to–"

"Don't even start there, Shawn!" I hissed at my older brother and just went inside to my new bedroom.

Shawn rolled his eyes and cocked his head, while closing the door after me and making his way through his messy home to his guestroom where I was placing my suitcase on my bed. I was still pissed at him for sending me away to our strict and very conservative aunt in England instead of taking care of me like he promised our parents he would before they died.

"How was England?" he asked, scratching his head a bit, while I unpacked my things.

I ignored him, took out my smokes and was about to light one when he quickly stopped me, eyes widened and looking surprised to see that his little sister was smoking. I wasn't really smoking, but I just wanted to scare him and show him how annoyed I was of his decision. He might be 23 years old, but he acted like a 43-year-old sometimes, which was really odd in his case, because he used to be a wild party guy before our parents died.

"When did you begin smoking?" he asked angrily.

"Never," I said, smirking teasingly. "I just wanted to see your facial expression. And Aunt Martha smoked even though she didn't want me to smoke so I took her smokes and precious lighter."

"Oh, Lord…" Shawn muttered and just left my bedroom.

I knew I was being really harsh towards him, but he deserved it after ditching me like that and forcing me to stay with a woman like Martha. She was old fashion and I mean _really_ old fashion. She didn't like my way of dressing, didn't want me to read fantasy books about magic and the supernatural, and she once called an exorcist to "release me from the demons that dwelled inside me". Just thinking about her gave me a splitting headache and I wanted to go outside to get some fresh air. So I did.

My new neighbors seemed nice and very welcoming. A young, beautiful, and petite girl, who looked about 17-18 years old, approached me with her 15-16-year-old brother and had brought a pie with her. Though, when she came closer and saw how I was dressed like, I could see that she was a bit… _surprised_ to say the least.

"Hi, I'm Elena Gilbert and this is my brother Jeremy," she said as friendly as she could. "You must be Shawn's sister. Melanie, right?"

I nodded and gladly took the pie, but wasn't really able to shake their hands. I invited them in instead, because just because I wasn't talking with my bro, then it didn't mean that I couldn't be nice to my new neighbors, and especially if I wanted to know at least _one_ person at my new high school.

"Shawn, we have guests, you lazy idiot!" I yelled, getting his attention immediately.

Shawn hurried in to the kitchen and greeted our neighbors as well. He apologized on my behalf, because he thought I had tried to scare them away, but Elena quickly told him that there was no reason for him or me to apologize.

"We're going to the Mystic Grill soon and meet up with our friends, so if you want to you can join us?" Elena offered.

I looked questioning at Shawn, but he seemed as if he didn't want to say no. He also seemed as if he feared that I would get in to an argument with him, but he shook his head and remained calm.

"You just came here and we need to talk about a few things," he said. "But thanks for the pie and I'm sure you three will get to see each other another time."

Elena and Jeremy nodded, said goodbye and left, while I crossed my arms and glared angrily at him for doing this to me.

"I'm sorry Mel, but I really need to talk with you before you settle down here," he said and sat down at the dinner table. "First off: I'm also sorry for leaving you with Aunt Martha and not visiting you that much, but there's a reason why I did it and you deserve to hear it."

"I'm listening." I said firmly.

Shawn took a deep breath and sighed. "After mom and dad died and I turned 18 I… well, I had a little drinking problem and I thought it would be for the best if you stayed with Martha. But I've been to AA meetings the last 2½ years and I'm doing a lot better now."

I sighed as well. I knew Shawn liked to drink and would be pretty wasted when he went to parties, but I didn't think he would become an alcoholic. "But why didn't you visit me more than four times a year? I mean it's not that hard to get on a plane and stay with your family for a few weeks."

"Mostly, because I felt so ashamed and I'd been busy too, trying to stay sober. But now that you're here and I'm doing fine then I hope we can continue where we left off, like… do you still have a passion for dancing?"

I nodded and finally smiled to him, then told him about how good a dancer I had become and how I started to dance not only ballet, but also jazz dance, hip hop, ballroom and a few more. I loved to dance and my passion had only grown bigger after our parents died. Luckily, Martha didn't have anything against me dancing ballet and ballroom, while I had to hide that I danced hip hop, tango and other modern dance styles involving me dancing in a not so classy and elegant way...

**Elena's POV:**

"Did you see Shawn's little sister?" Caroline asked curiously, wanting to know everything about the new girl so she could decide whether to hate or like her.

"Yeah, she seems… nice," I answered hesitantly, avoiding my friends' curious looks. I didn't want to say anything bad about Melanie, but she did come across rather… troubled and she clearly hated her brother more than she showed. "I didn't really get to speak with her, because she had just arrived and all, but it's safe to say that she's not supernatural. I sure don't hope so."

"How does she look?" Bonnie asked just as curiously, but she was only curious.

"Well, she has platinum blonde, long hair with black stripes, deep blue eyes, um… she's about Bonnie's height and she wears dark clothes. But she doesn't have any piercings besides earrings. I don't think so…" I answered.

Caroline looked at as if I was talking about a criminal, but she just shook her head and said that the girl was probably just another emo or punk kid, who hated life and did drugs, which I really didn't agree with. Jeremy used to go through some bad phases too, but that didn't mean that he was entirely a bad kid. He was just troubled and needed to find the right path in life.

"Who is an emo?" Stefan asked curiously, occupying the seat next to me.

"Shawn Black's little sister, Melanie. You know Shawn who works as a souschef at the local restaurant," I answered and Stefan nodded, remembering him from one of our trips to it. He was also our neighbor and he had Jenna used to date even though there was an age difference between the two of them. "But she's not an emo. She probably just likes to wear dark clothes like Damon for example. That man doesn't wear anything colored or bright."

They all laughed and I could see that Damon, who was sitting at the bar as usual, was listening to our conversation, because he rolled his eyes and shook his head a bit. Hopefully, he wasn't going to try anything stupid like spying on Melanie to check if she was up to anything or if she was a vampire too.

"Oh hey, look! There's Melanie and her brother!" I said and waved to her when she noticed us across the crowd of hungry costumers.

She looked much happier now and it didn't seem like there was any tension between her and her brother anymore, which comforted me a bit. But while Shawn went to get them something to eat and drink Melanie hurried over to us and politely said hello to everyone. Though, Stefan looked as if he recognized her and got that worried expression in his face he usually got when he saw Damon the first couple of weeks with him in back in town.

"So… Melanie, where do you come from?" Caroline asked curiously.

"London," Melanie answered and smiled. "Well, I was born in California, but my parents died about five years ago so I went to live with my annoying aunt in England."

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that," I said, remembering the time when I lost my parents in the car crash Stefan saved me from. "But if you need someone to show you around or just want to hang out, then you can just call us."

Bonnie, Stefan and I gave our numbers to Melanie, while Caroline's excuse was that she didn't give her number out to strangers. But Melanie didn't mind and just thanked us for being so kind to her on her first day in Mystic Falls, then returned to her brother.

"She does seem nice," Bonnie said. "But I think that she kindda looks like Jeremy when he went through his emo phase."

"Oh, don't remind me of that phase!" I exclaimed and then laughed a bit.

But I noticed that Stefan was really quiet and his eyes were still gazing at Melanie. Maybe she _was_ a vampire and an old ex or something like that, who just didn't remember Stefan. Whatever she was, then it seemed to bother him a lot.

"What's wrong, Stefan?" I asked worriedly.

Stefan finally looked at me and frowned. "It's probably nothing," he said. "She just reminds me of someone I once met a long time ago."

"Really? Who?" Caroline asked, wanting to hear all the details now that she was a vampire and was allowed to hear about things like this.

"I… I can't remember her name, but it's defiantly not Melanie," he answered. "But as I said. It's probably just nothing."

We didn't ask any more questions and just tried to have fun, forgetting our worries and the fact that I still had a deal with Elijah about staying put, until he needed my help to kill Klaus. Damon and Stefan still didn't trust him and I'd heard Damon say up to several times that he wanted to try to kill Elijah one day. I really hoped he didn't, because the last thing we needed was a pissed off pureblooded vampire, who was much stronger than Damon and Stefan combined.

"So who is Miss Emo and why does she make Stefan frown?" Damon asked unexpectedly and made my heart jump.

Stefan and I were alone at the pool table now, while Bonnie went home and Caroline was trying to help Tyler with his new werewolf powers so we wanted to play a game.

"Damon, not now…" Stefan said and lowered his voice to say something to him that I wasn't supposed to hear, but whatever it was then it made Damon's eyes widen a bit and he actually left.


	3. Avery Cole

**_A/N: Hi, thanks for your kind reviews, favoriting me, subscribing etc... _**

**_Here's chapter 2, I hope you like it, and please review! :D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 2:

**The Salvatore Estate, December 21 1863**

**Stefan's POV:**

"_Who is that?" Damon asked curiously, leaning closer towards the window, narrowing his eyes and trying to get a better look of the young girl arriving to our home. _

"_I don't know, but I've heard from our father that she's from England," I said, trying to push Damon a bit to the side so I could see her too. "She looks like she's about my age…"_

_Damon rolled his eyes, because we both knew what would happen now. We would fight for the girl's attention like we always did, but first we had to see how she was like socially. So we hurried outside to our father, who was waiting in the cold and snowy weather, and stood next to him, waiting for the girl to approach us. She had long, curled and beautiful ice blond hair that almost matched the snow and pale, but it looked as smooth as porcelain._

"_Welcome to my home, Miss Cole," Giuseppe said, kissing the girl's hand gently and making her smile a bit. "This is my sons Damon and Stefan. They will be showing you around in Mystic Falls the next couple of days, but if you have any questions at all, then you can always come directly to me."_

_Quickly, Damon hurried over to Miss Cole and smiled his usual charming smile, which always made girls blush or go weak in their knees. I envied him for his confidence and ways of charming a girl, but I wasn't giving up just yet. So I went inside as well and just waited for the right opportunity. But my father stopped me and wanted to have a little talk with me at the entrance._

"_Stefan, please make sure that she feels welcomed here," he said. "She is the daughter of a very good friend of mine and until he arrives to Mystic Falls we need to take care of her. You understand?"_

_I nodded and continued in to the living room where Damon was telling Miss Cole about our hunting trips with our father in the woods. I could already tell just by looking at her facial expression that she wasn't easily impressed by small things like hunting trips. But she seemed to enjoy his attempt to get her attention and looked like a kind-hearted, young girl._

"_Where in England did you live, Miss Cole?" I asked friendly and finally got her attention as well._

"_London," she answered and smiled. "But I actually do like Mystic Falls a lot. It's very calm and quiet like when you live out in the country…"_

_Miss Cole stopped talking and looked as if she just remembered something. But she shook her head and smiled again._

"_Oh, then you should see it in the summer," Damon said. "It's so beautiful and flowers are blooming everywhere. How long will you be keeping us company?"_

"_I'm not quite sure, but I know my father will be joining us in February. He… he is going to meet a man named Johnathan Gilbert, if I remember correctly," she said and sighed for some reason. Something was bothering her and no matter how hard she tried to shake the thoughts away, then they kept returning. "Excuse me, but I reckon I will go to bed now. It's been a very long day, but will I be seeing you two gentlemen tomorrow?"_

_Damon and I nodded at the same time and we watched her as she gracefully got up from the chair and went upstairs, making Damon gaze until she was completely out of sight. He looked like he had been hit by Cupid's arrow and it amused me greatly._

"_Why are you laughing, little brother?" Damon said, clearly annoyed of my amusement. _

"_You, my brother. You," I teased. "She's a very beautiful girl, but she seemed… troubled."_

_Damon's lifted his eyebrows. "You noticed that too?" _

_I nodded and none of us said anything for a while. We were just worried and concerned for whatever was wrong with this girl. Of course we were curious to know what could bother her, but we also hated to see a girl in trouble and wanted to help her out. He wanted to save a damsel in distress like any other proper gentleman would do._

"_I'm taking her to the woods tomorrow!" Damon said though and I shot him a venomous glare. _

"_No, you're not. Father told you to meet with the Confederacy and consider whether you want to join them." I said and he glared at me again._

_Though, he knew I was right and he knew that he couldn't just ignore his promise to our father so the next day I took Miss Avery Cole to the woods and hoped that she would open up. Her family was a friend of our family so of course we had to help her out, until her father arrived._

"_May I ask why you've been so quiet all afternoon?" I asked worriedly as we walked along the snow-covered path. _

_Miss Cole looked at me and I could see that something really __was__ bothering her. I thought it might be, because she had recently lost her mother since she had come alone and only spoke of her father, but it could also be something entirely else like being lonely our feeling unloved._

"_Yes, but I'm not sure if I can answer to that question, because… I do not know what is wrong with me. I just… I feel like I remembering certain things," she said. "But what is peculiar about this is that I do not recall ever remembering these things. Does that make any sense?"_

_I stopped and looked at her, wondering what was wrong with her and fearing that she might have come down with a mental illness or should go to an insane asylum. _

"_You believe I'm insane, don't you?" she asked worriedly._

"_Just a bit, but don't worry. I won't tell anyone about this, until you find out what is wrong with you," I answered and gave me a hug as a "thank you" for being so understanding. "Though, I sure hope nothing is wrong with you. You're a very… kind and beautiful, young lady."_

**Mystic Falls, October 18 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

"Melanie… Melanie, wake up or I'll give you a Wet Willy!" Shawn said, forcing me to open my eyes before he actually did it.

Last time he did it was when he still lived at home and I had to start in junior high. He always teased me like any other annoying big brother would do, but of course I got my revenge when he least expected it. Though, he was just bluffing this time, so I threw a pillow at him and hid under my blanket again, not wanting to get up and go to school.

"C'mon, sis! You have to go to school no matter whether you like it or not," he said and removed the blanket so he could see me. "At least you don't have to wear a school uniform anymore."

I sat up and tried to get my messy hair out of my face. Of course Shawn was right about not having to wear an ugly uniform anymore, but I was still scared of going back to school when we were in a small town like Mystic Falls where there wasn't many teens dressing like I did. They were more in to the newest trends or just wore "normal" clothes. Maybe I should too? I didn't _have_ to wear dark clothes all the time or act so though now that I wasn't living with my annoying aunt anymore.

"Are you picking me up after school?" I asked.

"No, I can't make it," Shawn answered. "But you can try asking Elena if she wants to give you a ride home."

Yeah, I could try doing that. Elena seemed very friendly so far, but I feared that not all of her friends liked me, because I was different. Especially, Caroline Forbes looked like she wasn't too fond of me when I met her for the first time at the grill. Though, even though I liked Elena, Bonnie and Elena's boyfriend Stefan – who by the way looked really hot and cute, but also slightly familiar – then I didn't know them that well and therefore I couldn't tell if they were just being friendly, because I was new.

"Relax kiddo! You're going to do just great," Shawn said, because he could see that I was worrying. "Now, get dressed and eat your breakfast. You don't want to be late on your first day."

"Oh, that's exactly what I am planning on doing this morning!" I said sarcastically.

Shawn chuckled and left my bedroom, leaving me alone so I could get dressed and ready for my first day at Mystic Falls High School. I started out by trying to figure out what I should wear. I really didn't care about what I wore, but usually just picked what I _felt_ like wearing, but at the same time I wanted to make a good first impression and maybe start with a clean table.

I chose to wear a mixture of modern and emo clothes. But at the time I finally was dressed I already had to leave and just took an apple with me on my way out to Shawn's car where he was waiting for me. He had to get early to work and there was only 10 minutes, until the school bell rang.

"Mom would be mad at you for skipping breakfast like that," he said on our way to school. I rolled my eyes and just took another bite of my apple. "Is there anything I need to know before I leave you with the other students?"

"Like what?" I asked a bit annoyed by what he was implying.

"Like… do you skip your classes? Have you taken drugs before? Things like that."

I sent Shawn a venomous glare. How could he even ask if I had ever taken drugs? I might be trouble sometimes, but I had never taken drugs before and couldn't understand why anyone would take it. Our dad was a cop so of course he had given us some lectures about the consequences of taking drugs.

"The only thing bad I've done in school or outside school was that I got in to fights with those who treated me like dirt!"

Shawn sighed and apologized for bringing it up in the first place. I knew he just wanted to know if I had any problems, but he had to learn to trust me. I wasn't his 10-11-year-old little sister anymore, who didn't know how to pick my battles, protect myself from bad things like drugs nor did I need his help with mean kids in my class.

"We're here," Shawn announced and smirked. "Now, get out of my car so I can go to work!"

I wrinkled my nose and hit him on his arm, then got out of his car and hurried inside, while he was laughing. I met up with Elena – after getting my schedule – just before she went inside the History classroom and overheard her talking with Stefan about me.

"Hi!" I said and tried to smile even though I was concerned of what they exactly were talking about.

"Oh hi, Melanie," Elena said, smiling friendly. "New style?"

I nodded and occupied the seat behind Stefan. "Shawn has to work today so I was wondering if I could get a ride home by you, Elena…"

"Well… actually, I was planning on going straight home to Stefan. Sorry."

"Oh…" I sighed. "That's okay. I can just walk home then."

Elena opened her mouth to say something, but our History teacher Mr. Saltzman came and began teaching us about the American Civil War. I tried to act like I wasn't feeling left out, because maybe they just were busy and didn't have time to think about me right now. Besides, it was only about a 10-15 minute walk from the school.

The only problem I had was to find my way back in this new town and that would be hard since I didn't really pay attention to which way we took. But it wasn't like I didn't have any spare time to use to find my way back home, because I hadn't gotten any friends yet and might have ruined my first impression with Elena and her friends last Friday.


	4. Valentina Konstantinov

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 3!_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! :D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 3:

**The Salvatore Boarding House**

**Damon's POV:**

It took me a few hours to find it in my old storage room where I kept all my things from the last many decades, but now I had found it and I couldn't believe my own eyes. It was defiantly her. She looked exactly like herself, but just with black stripes in her hair and a very different style. How could I possibly forget a girl like her?

Avery Olivia Cole.

I sat down on my bed with the Christmas picture of us at the fireplace and was reminded of my old self. The boring, _human_ Damon Salvatore, who had to live by his father's rules and do what his father told him to do rather than just be free like Miss Avery was.

Even when her father finally arrived she just avoided him and had fun anyway, because she hated to do the same boring things every day. She was the reason why I chose to come home instead of fighting in the American Civil War for the Confederacy and risk dying; because of something I wasn't really passionate about keeping.

But I also remembered that Avery ran away from home on the day she found out that her father was dead and if I remember right then her father was one of the vampire hunters, who tried to captivate Katherine and kill all the vampires in town. He helped Johnathan Gilbert to make the device and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the reason to why he died so suddenly.

Now that I had found this picture and was sure that Melanie wasn't just a normal girl, then I took out my phone and called Stefan to let him know that he should be careful around her. If Melanie was also a vampire and looking for revenge on somebody then we had to make sure that she didn't expose herself as a vampire and brought us in danger as well.

"_Are you sure it's really Avery?_" Stefan asked though.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure," I answered. "But it doesn't make any sense. She didn't seem to recognize you at all and she doesn't wear a day-ring."

I could hear that Stefan sighed and of course the curious Elena wanted to know what was wrong. "_Damon, I'll take care of this for now so don't try to provoke her or reveal what we are. She might not be supernatural in any way._"

I rolled my eyes. Of course I wanted to talk with her and I was going to do it when she was alone. "Don't worry little brother! I won't do anything to harm her. I mean, it's Avery we're talking about!"

I hung up, grabbed my black leather jacket, and drove to Mystic Falls High School to have a better look. If Melanie was connected to Avery in a weird way, then I wanted to know just how much she knew about vampires, werewolves or anything else supernatural. Or else I would just have a taste of her blood and make her my little secret assistant, who would be able to spy unnoticeable on Tyler, Elijah or maybe even bitchy Jules, who apparently, easily could sniff a vampire out.

I arrived at the school just as the students were off to the cafeteria to have their lunch and hurried inside, searching for Melanie among the young teenagers. I did find her, but she wasn't in the cafeteria or sitting with Stefan and Elena. She was hiding at a staircase, sitting alone and eating her very normal lunch, while listening to music from her Ipod.

I didn't approach Melanie, but just stood nearby and watched how she ate her lunch and was writing something in a little black notebook with skulls and bones on the cover. I waited until the lunch break was over and she had gone off to have English before I went to her locker and looked for any evidence that connected her to Avery. I didn't found anything peculiar so I went outside again and compelled a crow to spy on her while I went to see Katherine in the tomb. I had to ask her a few questions anyway and I was curious to see how she was doing without blood.

Miss-I-Love-Saint-Stefan was hiding in the dark shadows, but as soon as I removed the bottle cap with blood that I had brought with me she hurried over to the entrance, only to be blocked by the barrier between us. I smirked and waved it tauntingly in front of her.

"Hungry, Miss Katherine?" I said and chuckled.

She glared angrily at me and tried to remain calm, hoping that I would give the bottle to her if she cooperated with me. I didn't give it to her already, but just closed the bottle again.

"Just here to watch me perish?" she asked unemotionally.

"No… although, that would be fun," I teased and took out the picture of Avery. Her eyes widened when she saw her, meaning that she _did_ in fact know her. "What do you know about Avery Cole?"

Katherine didn't answer. Of course she wouldn't just answer right away… But I opened the bottle and pretended to pour the blood out on the ground, which immediately made her answer.

"I'll tell you what you need to know if you give that to me," she said though. I rolled my eyes and gave it to her, predicting that she would probably just hide with it in the shadows again. She didn't. "When did she visit you? And for how long?"

I sighed weakly. "In December 1863 and she only stayed for about one and a half month."

"Let me guess… you've seen her again, haven't you?"

I nodded and frowned when Katherine began to smirk. She knew something, but whatever this thing was then she wasn't going to tell me the whole truth. Not yet.

**Russia, May 4 1622**

**Katherine's POV:**

"_They should be gone for now," she said and turned to me, smiling friendly while I was not even near smiling. I had been on the run for so many years now and knew that I would have to leave this small village in a few days. "What is your name? Mine is Valentina Konstantinov."_

"_Katerina," I said and looked around in her old cottage. She seemed to be living all alone and that was probably also why she chose to help me even though she knew what I was. She did not care if she would die tonight or feared that I would hurt her in any way. Though, she did seem to fear something else or rather __someone__ else. I studied her facial expression and wondered if she was not from here since she understood Bulgarian perfectly. "Why did you help me from the hunters? They will just kill you too for helping me."_

_Valentina shrugged and just gave me a cup of what smelled like rabbit blood. She __knew__ I was coming to town and she was not a vampire like me. Though, I drank up and took another look at her. She looked about my age, her hair was long and as pale as ice, her skin was pale as well, but her eyes… they were blue like the sea and hauntingly beautiful. But there was something odd about her that made me ask this one question._

"_What are you?" I asked worriedly._

_This time Valentina did not shrug, but her heart skipped a beat. The awkward silence between us was broken by the sound of someone who was entering her home. It was a young Russian man – a vampire – and he looked about 25 years old. He kissed Valentina on her forehead and then turned his attention to me._

"_Who is she, Val?" he asked._

"_A friend," she answered. "She is a vampire too. Her name is Katerina."_

_The vampire nodded understandingly and greeted me, letting me know that his name was Vladimir and that he was also a friend of Valentina. He told me that I could stay here for a while, but that they were going somewhere else soon. Of course I was offered to come with them and I gladly accepted their offer. I needed to be on the move all the time and could not stay at one place for a long time._

"_How come you help vampires? Are you a vampire too?" I asked._

"_No, I am not a vampire, but simply cursed to help the vampires and werewolves amongst us, until the day I find a way to break the curse and finally die for the very last time," she answered and took a knife to cut her wrist, letting Vladimir drink her own blood. "I used to be so much more than just a servant, but as long as the curse still rules over my life, then I will let my dear Vladimir feed off me and hide him and you from the hunters."_

_I pitied Valentina, but I could see that she had accepted her destiny and Vladimir was not only lusting for her blood. The way he looked at her with his dark brown eyes, clearly showed me that he was in love even though she might not feel the same way about him. But Vladimir did not drain her from all of her blood and even carried her back to her bed, letting her rest for now, until he needed to feed again._

**Melanie's POV:**

"I'm home," I announced. "Finally…"

My feet hurt a bit, because it took me about one hour to find my way back home. But I didn't complain and just looked for Shawn in my new home. Sadly, Shawn wasn't home and he had left a note, saying that he was out on a date, but that Jenna had invited me over for dinner if I didn't want to order pizza or make something myself. I didn't want to be a burden to them or force them to spend time with me if they didn't want to so I stayed at home and just ordered a pizza.

The first couple of hours in school I tried to hang out with them, but it felt like they didn't want to talk with me and where too "busy" to hang out with me after school. I even tried to ask Caroline if she wanted to go out shopping with me some day and she said she would call me when she had time, but I never got the chance to give her my number.

If _that_ didn't say that they were avoiding me on purpose, then I didn't know what did. So I spend my lunch break alone somewhere quiet and left school grounds as soon as the bell rang for the last time. When I lived in London I wasn't popular either, but I had at least two good friends, who always had time to hang out with me even though they hated my aunt too.

I needed a drink. Usually, I would hide with my friends – Lola and Zeke – under the bleachers after school hours and share one or two glasses of scotch, brandy or whisky with them, but I didn't think that Shawn had any alcohol since he was a recovering alcoholic. Therefore, I had to settle with a Coca Cola Zero I found in the fridge.

Luckily, the pizza delivery boy came after only 15 minutes so I didn't have to wait for my dinner for long and took a seat on the couch with my very unhealthy dinner, which my aunt would never have approved of. Not even my dad would have let me have pizza _and_ cola to dinner even though he was a horrible cook while my mom worked as a chef at a very fancy restaurant.

"Dear God! Please let there be something interesting tonight!" I almost begged as I zapped from one channel to the other, looking for something entertaining like _Bones_, _Navy CIS_ or _Supernatural_ – my three favorite shows. "Yes! Thank you God!"

I leaned back and just began eating, watching the two hot Winchester brothers from _Supernatural_ who were trying to catch a demon with a really cute angel named Castiel. But my joy was short, because after only three minutes of the badass Dean Winchester kicking some major demon-ass, the doorbell rang and I wondered who was possibly visiting me at 6:00 PM when I didn't have any friends yet.

Though, I got up and went to open the door, only to see that it was Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline with a box of pizza and movies in their hands.

"Hi," Elena said awkwardly and smiled friendly. "We felt really bad about not having time to hang out with you so… we thought we could have a little girl night with you tonight."

Yeah, right! Jenna had probably told them to keep me company since I didn't join them for dinner. I didn't need their pity to feel better. I just needed some peace and quiet to watch my show and… and I didn't want them to be my friends if they didn't want to. I could just find some friends somewhere else or be alone. It wasn't like I would die without any friends.

"Listen, I know you're just being friendly to me, because I'm new and all, but you don't have to. I know I'm not like you and it's okay. I'll just find someone else to hang out with," I said honestly, but they didn't leave. "Really, I mean it. I'm fine."

"But we do want to be your friends," Bonnie said. "And we're not going before you at least give us a chance."

They all seemed to insist on me giving them a chance so I did. I invited them inside even though I just wanted to be alone tonight. But we watched two movies, ate a lot of pizza and talked about everything from boys to Mystic Falls.

They did ask me many questions about my background though and I only answered the questions about if I had ever had a boyfriend before (sadly, I hadn't), how England was and what I liked to do in my spare time. I didn't want to answer those about how my parents died, why I was pissed at my brother when I arrived or why they couldn't find me in the lunch break.

Around 11:00, Shawn finally came home from his date, just as I was saying goodbye to Elena, Bonnie and Caroline. He smiled brightly, gave me a hug and ruffled my hair like he always did when he came home from a date, a party or something else.

"I see you've made a few friends…" he said and smiled brighter.

"Friends? Well… yeah, kindda," I said hesitantly. "How was your date? Is she hot?"

I was so used to Shawn dating girls and young women that I didn't mind it anymore and was curious about how it went. Sadly, Shawn hadn't gotten used to me asking questions like that yet so he began to blush and avoided my curious eyes.

"Okay, yeah! She is hot, but that's not why I'm dating her. She's also smart, funny, mature and–"

"Oh my God! You're in love with her, aren't you?"

Now I was just teasing him, but I was right. He was blushing even more now and pinched my arm to make me stop laughing.

"Oi! Stop that!" I snarled and hit his arm again. "I'm going to bed now before you give me a noogie!"

Shawn chuckled. "Goodnight, Mel! I love you!"

I just waved my hand at him, while I was walking up the stairs. "I hate you too!"


	5. Déjà Vu

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 4! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! _**

**_Btw, I have bad news... Sadly, my laptop broke so until it has been repaired, then I won't be able to write new chapters to Völva. But I've borrowed my brother's laptop to put this chapter in and will put the next chapter in tomorrow too. As for when my laptop will be back, then I was told that it could take up to 1-2 weeks *sad face* _**

**_But again, enjoy!_**

Chapter 4:

**The Salvatore Boarding House, October 19 2010**

**Stefan's POV:**

"Elena, Bonnie and Caroline had a girl night with Melanie last night…" I said as I prepare myself to go to school. Damon didn't seem to listen, but just sat at a table and read something in an old journal. _His_ old journal. He hadn't even touched his daily glass of blood from the blood bank so whatever it was then it seemed very important to him. "Melanie is defiantly not a vampire. They slipped some vervain into her drink, but nothing happened to her."

Damon finally looked up from the journal and smirked, because he already knew that. Of course he did. He had been researching on his own all day, trying to figure out how to kill an Original and why Katherine wanted a moonstone from Mason.

"You wanna tell me how you already know this?" I asked.

"Well, if you really must know, then I had a little talk with Katherine yesterday and she told me something very interesting about our old friend Miss Cole," he answered, then taking a sip of the blood. "She didn't say much, but she did say that Avery isn't her real name and that she's not… well, _normal_. Every century she is born and dies at the age of 17. She always looks the same, acts the same and only remembers small things from her past life. She wouldn't tell me why though."

Huh… that was weird. Why be born every century just to die at the age of 17? There had to be more to this and this was probably also why I Avery once told me that she remembered things she hadn't experienced. At that time I just thought that she was joking or a bit weird, but clearly I was wrong.

"You should invite her over," Damon suggested, but with a smirk that could only mean trouble. "C'mon! It'll be fun. I promise I'll behave."

I thought about it, but as much as I didn't want Damon to meet Melanie, then I couldn't come up with any other way to find out if she really was a reincarnation of the Avery we knew. If she was then she would surely still have some memories about us like she had about her previous life. I just wondered what exactly would happen, because she didn't seem to remember me when we met at the grill or in school yesterday.

"Fine, I'll try," I said, raising my hands in defeat. "But I warn you. This reincarnation is tougher than the last one and harder to impress."

Damon grimaced and just continued reading his journal. I left our home and went to pick up Elena on the way like I always did, though this time she was waiting outside her home with Melanie and it seemed as if Elena's plan worked, because they were talking together and laughing. I got out, opened the door for them and gave Elena her usual morning kiss, telling her quickly what Damon told me.

**Mystic Falls High School**

**Melanie's POV:**

"So… you're interested?" Stefan asked, waiting patiently for me to reply.

I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to visit his home after school with Elena, because I didn't know him that well and just because he was Elena's boyfriend, then it didn't mean that he was entirely a good guy – especially, when I kept having this weird feeling about him and felt like I had seen him before somewhere. But Elena insisted on me hanging out with them and seeing where Stefan lived, and she promised that we would only be there for a couple of hours, because we had gotten a lot of homework for tomorrow, which I really didn't want to forget to make.

"Okay, fine!" I said, locking my locker and following them to PE. God, how I hated PE… I still hated it even though I danced a lot in my spare time and was used to sweat. "But only for two hours or else I won't have time to practice my dancing."

Stefan raised an eyebrow, because he didn't know what kind of dancing I was talking about, but Elena told him that I danced all kinds of dancing like ballroom, ballet, hip hop, street dance and etc. I usually danced to all sorts of music so if I danced to classical music, then it would be ballet or ballroom (only when I have a dance partner).

Elena and Stefan kissed each other goodbye as we split and we went to have PE, but we weren't feeling excited to play volleyball at all, while Stefan and the other boys were probably having fun playing football. It was times like these where I would much rather play football, because I was used to play it with Shawn and his friends when we lived in California. I wasn't afraid to play rough either and used my dancing talents to avoid being tackled by whoever I was playing against.

Though, after PE, French, Biology and History we went home to Stefan and I sent a text to Shawn, saying that I would come home around 3:00 or 4:00. We only had four lessons today, because our chemistry teacher was sick and they couldn't find a substitute teacher in time so they let us go home early to my and the others' joy.

"Jesus Christ! How can you afford to live in a house like that?" I exclaimed as soon as I saw the big house Stefan lived in.

Stefan chuckled and parked his car, opening the front door of his house for us as a gentleman. "That's a long story, but my brother and I have just inherited it from our ancestors," he said and took us to the kitchen where he offered us a soda. "Our family used to live in the Salvatore Estate, but it was destroyed many years ago… so now we live in the Salvatore Boarding House."

Salvatore Estate… Why did that sound so familiar to me? I took a look around and took in almost every beautiful detail on the furniture, the walls, the paintings and what else they owned of expensive old stuff in here. Curiously, I went inside to the parlor and noticed someone at the liquor cabinet, pouring himself a glass of scotch. He looked… so familiar too and when he turned around and smirked in a really familiar way I began to see an image of him in my head. He was wearing 19th century clothes in the image and he seemed different, but still the same. It was hard for me to explain what exactly I was feeling at the moment, but it felt like a déjà vu.

"You must be Melanie Black – the new girl in town," he said and I nodded, avoiding the way he gazed at me with his stunning sky-blue eyes. "I'm Damon Salvatore. Stefan's brother."

Damon shook my hand and just as I touched his skin I saw a flashback of a memory I couldn't remember ever experiencing. I saw Damon and I dancing in a beautiful ballroom and we were both wearing clothes from the 19th century. Quickly, I pulled my hand back again and tried to remain calm.

"Nice to meet you," I said friendly. "Though, Stefan never mentioned having an older brother…"

"Of good reasons," Stefan said as he and Elena joined us in the parlor and he chucked a bit when Damon rolled his eyes. "Melanie, would you like to get a tour and see the rest of the house?"

I nodded, but before I could follow Stefan and Elena to the other rooms Damon stopped us and offered to give me the tour. I wasn't too happy about that, because I didn't know him, and he seemed kindda annoying and creepy with that arrogant smirk on his lips and those really pale blue eyes. But I chose to give him a chance and followed him upstairs to see the beautiful bedrooms, while he told me about when the house was build and a bit about the Salvatore Estate's history as well.

"You know, you remind me of someone I used to know…" Damon said when we were standing in Stefan's huge bedroom. "Her name was Avery Cole."

I felt a shiver run down my spine when he said that name and began to feel very… uncomfortable. How could I recognize a name when I hadn't heard it before? And why did I feel so off in this house? I closed my eyes for a few minutes and when I opened them again Damon pushed me against the wall, looking me deep into my eyes and holding my arms so tightly that I couldn't move.

"Why do you keep being reborn?" he asked and I saw his pupils dilate, making me go into a trance.

"I don't know…" I answered automatically, but Damon didn't let go of me.

"Why did you come to Mystic Falls?"

"Because my brother wanted me to live with him."

Damon frowned and loosened his grip on my arms. "Are you hiding anything at all from us and if yes, then what?"

I nodded. "I haven't told you how my parents died and why."

Damon sighed and finally let go of me. He ordered me to forget what he did to me and go downstairs and automatically I did what I was told without looking back or saying a word.

**The Salvatore Estate, December 25 1863**

**Damon's POV:**

"_Where are we going?" I asked, but Avery kept walking through the snowy woods, humming a Christmas carol beautifully and giggling. _

_However, we finally arrived at the destination and I was amazed to see what Avery had found. It was the old lake near our home, but it was completely frozen and if you looked up towards the sky you could see the shining full moon. The past few days with Avery had truly been… different. I liked goofing around with her and so did Stefan, but sometimes… sometimes she would become so quiet and seemed to be in her own world, thinking about God knew what and avoiding us._

"_I saw this place when I went to the woods with Stefan," Avery said and looked at me, her deep blue eyes shining in the light of the moon. "Isn't it beautiful?"_

_I nodded and smiled weakly. "Like you."_

_Avery giggled and didn't seem impressed by my attempt to win her heart. She made me feel happy, entertained me and held me company, but it didn't mean that she liked me __that__ way. Not yet, anyway. But it didn't matter. I was a very patient man and I wanted to be more than just her friend._

"_Do you believe in vampires and werewolves?" Avery asked me though._

"_Vampires and werewolves?" I repeated confusedly, but she just nodded. "No, I do not. Such beings don't exist."_

_Avery chuckled and took a step closer to me, teasing me because she knew that I wanted to win her heart before Stefan did. But I couldn't resist the temptation anymore and therefore I kissed her, surprising her more than I expected to. Though, she kissed me back and whispered something under her breath. I didn't hear it, but when she realized what she had said she let go of me and looked as if she had just seen a ghost._

"_Damon, I… I can't do this. I… I need to go!" she said and ran away before I could stop her._

_My kiss had triggered something inside her, but it wasn't love. It was the fear of losing someone else in her life if she chose to fall in love with me. Whoever she was in love with then he might be the reason to why she acted the way she did. I didn't hate her for running away like that, because I did enjoy spending time with her and saw her as a friend too. So when I went back to the party and found her, sitting in her bedroom and crying her heart out, I didn't try to make another move. I stayed with her, dried her tears away and was there for here as a __friend__._

"_Who is it who is causing you so much pain?" I asked her, but she shrugged and didn't know what to say._

"_I don't know, Damon," she said. "But I know he's out there. I've seen him looking for me in my dreams."_

_I looked confusedly at her and tried to understand what she was talking about. She seemed insane, but she was being serious about everything she said. She was in love with someone. She just didn't know who he was or where he was right now. But somehow she did know that he was looking for her as if he was her… soul mate._


	6. Broken

_**A/N: Hi, here's chapter 5! :D**_

_**I miss my laptop... :'(**_

_**Oh, well I'll just cross my fingers and hope that they'll repair my laptop before next weekend comes.**_

_**I hope you like it and please review! **_

_**xoxo Ascha**_

Chapter 5:

**Mystic Falls, October 22 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

I had just gotten home from school when I saw something in the living room I would wish I hadn't seen. It was Shawn, half-naked and kissing passionate with some woman on the couch. I let out a shriek and caught their attention, making Shawn fall down from the woman and hit his butt. Of course this only made me burst into laughter, while the woman – who was probably his girlfriend – quickly got her blouse back on and blushed a lot.

Though, when I had a better look of the woman, who was standing next to Shawn, and saw how she looked like, I couldn't help but feel like I needed to run away as fast as I could. It wasn't so much her looks that bothered me, because she looked like a pretty normal woman; she had shoulder-long blondish hair, blue-grayish eyes, and a beautiful body.

"Hi," she said and shook my hand confidently. "I'm Jules. You must be Shawn's sister, Melanie."

I nodded and looked over at Shawn, who had just gotten his pants back on. He hurried over to me and forced me in to the kitchen to have a talk with me in private. I needed to talk with him too, because as much as I didn't care about who he dated, then there was just something… off about this one and she looked a few years older than him.

"Look, I'm sorry if I traumatized you, but… well, it just happened!" Shawn said, while taking his shirt back on.

"Traumatized? More likely scarred for life," I teased. "No seriously, it's alright. But is she really that girl you've been dating the last few weeks?"

Shawn nodded. "Why? You don't like her?"

I opened my mouth and tried to come with the right answer, but I didn't know what to say, because I didn't know this woman and Shawn seemed to like her a lot. Luckily, the doorbell rang so I got the chance to avoid his questions for a few minutes and opened the door, only to be confused by the sight of Damon standing at my door, smirking arrogantly.

"Are you busy tonight?" he asked.

I wanted to say yes, but I could hear that Jules and Shawn were goofing around with each other in the living room, so I shook my head, grabbed my jacket and went with Damon to the Mystic Grill where he told me that Elena and the others would also be in an hour or so, because it was karaoke night. I didn't know why I trusted in Damon, but he just seemed friendly in his own arrogant way and I didn't feel scared in his presence.

To make it even better then Damon actually bought me a glass of scotch without getting any trouble by the bartender and we sat peacefully at the bar, drinking our scotch and listened to the music that was played until karaoke night started.

"Wait a minute," I said, getting Damon's full attention. "Are you trying to make me drunk?"

Damon chuckled and raised his glass a bit. "Partly," he admitted. "But I also just wanted to talk with you without the others around."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Is that so?"

He chuckled again and nodded, taking a sip of his scotch and thinking about something that seemed to bother him. Maybe it had something to do with our last meeting where he said I looked like his old friend… Avery, was it? Maybe he had lost her?

"So… what ever happened to your friend, Avery?" I asked worriedly, taking a sip of my scotch and feeling the same old burning sensation in my throat.

"She… _disappeared_," Damon answered and sighed heavily, indicating that she was a really good friend of his. "But it was a looong time ago."

Long time ago? How long was "long" for a 21-22-year-old guy? I didn't ask, but just took another sip of my scotch and listened to the sad, familiar song, _Broken _by Seether feat. Amy Lee. The words were lingering between us, filling out the silence and replacing the sadness.

"_I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh/I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away/I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well/I wanna hold you high and steal your pain. 'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome/and I don't feel right when you're gone away…_"

I began thinking about the memory of seeing my parents die right in front of me, the memory of the man shooting my mom, because my dad apparently had shot his brother when his brother tried to rob a bank. Then the man wanted to kill me too to make my dad suffer, but my dad rescued me and was shot in his heart.

When Shawn finally came home and saw our parents' bodies being taken away, he hurried over to me and we cried for a long time, but stayed with each other and even when we were sent to a foster family for a few months Shawn was there for me. Well… until he turned 18 and became a raging alcoholic, partying almost every week and stayed in California, while I went to England for five years – only 12 years old, scared, lonely and without any parents or brother to cheer me up.

All these painful memories brought up other memories, but I didn't remember experiencing these memories either. It was another déjà vu and it felt just as painful as the memory of me watching both of my parents die right in front of me. I drank a big slurp of my scotch and this caught Damon's attention. But he just ordered two more glasses to us and finished his drink too.

**England, June 24 1714**

**Fleurette's POV:**

_The tears seemed to run down my cheeks almost every time I didn't want it to. I missed my parents – vampires or not – because they had raised me the last 13 years and taken me in like their own. Klaus had been very kind to me the last few days, yes… but he wasn't able to erase the pain. But he could always hear whenever I was crying and therefore he entered the bathroom, not caring that I was completely naked in the bathtub. I hid my naked body under the soap, but he still didn't care. He just kneeled at the bathtub, drying away my tears with his fingers._

"_Are you hurting, Fleurette?" he asked worriedly._

_I nodded. I didn't want to admit it, but I did and it seemed to bother Klaus. Calmly, he lifted my chin with his index finger and made me look him deep into his electric blue eyes. I was under some sort of trance and couldn't break free of it, until he let his mesmerizing words drip from his mouth like honey. I loved listening to every word that came out from his mouth, but when he looked me into my eyes I felt something entirely different to him. _

_However, when Klaus opened his mouth to say something he hesitated and instead he kissed me, making me feel butterflies in my stomach and remembering things I didn't remember experiencing. I saw myself in the 1600 Russia, the 1500 Bulgaria and the list went on, but in every memory I saw my parents lose their lives and that stopped me from taking pleasure of this precious moment. _

_My lips separated from Klaus's lips and I moved away from him, seeing him smile of joy for the first time in a very long time. This was true joy and what I was trying to get from him every time we spend time with each other. But what really made me happy was the fact that he felt the same way about me._

"_Many have feared me and tried to kill me over the last hundreds of years, but never have anyone loved me unconditionally like you do, Fleurette. How is that?" Klaus asked, smiling weakly. _

"_I don't know. I just feel like I have to help you with something. But what that thing is, I don't know," I answered, brushing the soap closer to hide my body. I had a peculiar feeling of letting Klaus drink my blood like he did with the women he brought home. So I lifted my wrist up to his mouth without knowing why. "Drink. I can feel… that you're hungry."_

_Klaus looked confusedly at me, wondering what was wrong with me. But he could tell that I was serious and therefore he sunk his fangs into my wrist, filling up the hunger inside him. This reminded me of something. I remembered another vampire named Vladimir and he drank my blood, but… my name was something else. _

"_K… Klaus!" I gasped, feeling my body go number and number for every minute that went. _

_He stopped drinking and quickly grabbed a towel, pressing it against my wound. "I'm sorry," he said and kissed me on my forehead. "Let me heal your wound."_

_He bit his wrist open and forced me to drink his blood, but it made me nauseous. The wound healed though and Klaus called his maids, ordering them to dry me and help me get dressed, while he checked if dinner was ready. I was dressed in the finest gown I had ever seen, my hair was curled and I was told by the maids to wait in the dining room, while Klaus had to talk with somebody. But my curiosity had grown since I came to England so I went looking for Klaus and found him in his parlor, talking with a tall man with dark-brown hair and brown eyes. I could sense that he was a vampire too, but he didn't need any blood right now. _

"_Klaus, who is he?" I asked, letting them know that I was in the room as well._

_They turned to me and I feared that Klaus would be angry at me now, but he didn't scold me. He simply grabbed my arm and told me to greet his friend Elijah. I curtsied politely, but when Elijah wanted to kiss my hand politely Klaus took my hand away from him, almost as if he didn't want anyone else to touch me._

"_Fleurette, go back to the dining room," he ordered more than he said. "Now!"_

_I went back to the dining room and sat down at the table, but still listened carefully to their conversation. I could hear them say things like they hadn't found a girl named Katerina, which sounded oddly familiar to me, and that they needed to get a moonstone back. I began remembering words and whispered them to myself without knowing why. I just knew that I had heard them before._

"_How come you help vampires? Are you a vampire too?" I whispered to myself._

"_No, I am not a vampire, but simply cursed to help the vampires and werewolves amongst us, until the day I find a way to break the curse and finally die for the very last time," I answered and took a knife from the dinner table to cut my wrist. "I used to be so much more than just a servant, but as long as the curse still rules over my life, then I will let my dear… __Klaus__ feed off me and hide him and you from the hunters."_

_I woke up from the sound of Klaus hurrying over to me, forcing me to drink his blood again, and asking me angrily of why I had cut myself. I didn't know what to answer and just sat there, bewildered and nauseous of the taste of blood. I had been in a trance, but it was different from the trance I felt when Klaus looked me deep into my eyes. It was like… like when you had an epiphany. _

"_Fleurette," Klaus said worriedly and caught my attention. "Are you–"_

"_That's not my name," I interrupted and stood up. "My name isn't Fleurette."_

_Klaus looked confusedly at me. "Of course it is! You were born Fleurette Jacqueline–"_

_I covered Klaus's mouth with my hand and shook my head. I was sure about this. My name wasn't Fleurette, but something entirely different. I just couldn't remember what it was. But I did know something else for sure. I loved Klaus and he loved me, and that was all I needed to know at the moment. However, some day I knew I would have to figure out who I really was and why I kept remembering these things and felt like helping vampires._

"_I'm sorry, Klaus," I said and smiled weakly to calm him down. "Let us eat now. I'm starving and I can't wait to taste more of this delicious English food."_

_Klaus smiled too, but shook his head a bit of me and chuckled, because I was amusing him for some reason._


	7. Grounded

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 6! :D _**

**_I finally got my laptop back, but those stupid... *curses* wouldn't repair it unless I paid freakin' 758,800 $! _**

**_Of course I was pissed about this, but I tried to repair it myself instead and now... well, now it's back in action! :)_**

**_Anyway! I hope you like it and please review! 8D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 6:

**Melanie's POV:**

Everything and everyone had become blurry before my sight. I didn't know where I was, who was holding me in his strong arms or where the hell, we were going, but I kept seeing things in my mind that wouldn't go away. The pistol, the blood, and the sirens. It all came flashing back and wouldn't go away no matter how hard I tried to forget it.

_I was sitting in the kitchen, doing my homework as usual and listening to my mom's beautiful voice as she hummed while making our dinner. My dad was sitting in the living room and watching football, completely distracted from the fact that Shawn hadn't come home yet as he promised. _

_But suddenly the doorbell rang and my mom told me to keep an eye on the chicken while she opened the door. I listened carefully, because who could possibly be visiting us at this time? I didn't know why, but my mom suddenly became very silent and that of course triggered my curiosity. I had always been a very curious girl, but sometimes that wasn't a good thing. _

_Today showed why. _

_A young man in his early twenties entered our home, holding a gun close to my mom's back and signing to me that I should stay quiet. Of course I screamed and that caught my dad's attention. But before he entered the kitchen with his gun and was ready to help us, the man grabbed me and took me as his hostage instead, pushing my mom away and holding his gun dangerously close to my head._

"_Dean! Let my daughter go!" my dad hissed angrily, trying his best to remain calm._

"_Why should I? You killed __my__ brother so I only think it's fair if I kill her! An eye for an eye, isn't that how they say it?" the man hissed, pressing the gun close to my skin._

_I tried not to cry, but failed miserably. My dad had taught me so many times how to defend myself if anything like this ever happened, but it was something completely else when the man wasn't my dad or my brother, but a real criminal, who wanted to kill me. _

"_Sweetie, look at me!" my mom said, trying her best not to cry or do something stupid too. I looked at her and it did help, but it didn't stop the man from pointing his gun towards her and shooting her right in front my dad._

_Dad screamed and I saw tears fall down his cheeks. He jumped on the man out of anger and told me to run away and call the police as fast as I could, but I didn't want to leave him or my mom. What if my mom wasn't dead? Maybe I could still save her._

"_Run, Mel!" my dad yelled angrily and this time I followed his order, while he struggled to get the gun away from the man. _

_Though, before I could leave our home and run to the neighbor I heard another shot and wondered if my dad was okay. I ran back to him and saw that he was the one, who had been shot. But he wasn't dead yet and tried to get to his gun before the man could shoot him again. _

"_See you in hell, pig!" the man said and pointed the gun towards my dad's heart. _

"NO!" I screamed loudly, waking up in Damon's arms.

Tears were running down my cheeks and I was panicking, but Damon stopped me from going anywhere. He looked me deeply in to my eyes, telling me to in a gentle but mesmerizing tone that I should calm down and I did. But instead I realized that I was drunk and that we were heading home.

Maybe I had a little too much to drink…

"What happened?" I asked confusedly, not remembering how we ended up here or when we even left.

"You passed out," Damon calmly answered and chuckled. "You had little too much to drink."

Yeah, that was what I thought. I sighed heavily and looked over at Shawn's driveway. Jules's car wasn't there anymore, which meant that she had finally gone home. I still didn't trust her completely, but at least Shawn was happy. He had been through a rough couple of years and deserved to be happy.

"So… why were you crying? Bad dream?" Damon asked curiously.

I nodded. "You could say that," I said. I took a deep breath, dried my tears away, and looked at him. He was much stronger than I thought, but this or the fact that he saved me from an awkward conversation with Jules didn't change how I looked at him. He was still just Stefan's charming and arrogant big brother, who probably already had a girlfriend or used to go home with a new girl every week. "You don't have to carry me all the way home, you know."

Damon chuckled again and stopped at my porch, letting me stand by myself even though I was feeling very dizzy and needed something non-alcoholic to drink. I didn't know why, but Damon didn't let go of me completely. He still had his arm around my waist and looked at me with this weird look as if something was bothering him. Maybe it was the fact that I reminded him of his friend, Avery.

"Did you like Avery?" I asked, without knowing why.

Damon raised an eyebrow and frowned, finally letting go of me. He still stood close to me though and it made me feel rather uncomfortable. Especially, when I feared that he might do something… well, just _something_ he shouldn't do!

"Yes, I did, but she didn't like me the same way I liked her," Damon admitted. "She… was in love with someone else."

I sighed again and didn't really know what to say. I had been in love with guys, who didn't like me back either because of my style, my popularity or my aunt and therefore I didn't know how to cheer him up. My way of cheering myself up was to sit with my friends and drink alcohol or watch scary movies with them all night. But this didn't stop Damon from doing something he shouldn't have done anyway, because all of a sudden he surprised me with a kiss and I didn't know what to do. If I pulled away, then he might become hurt and if I stayed, then he would think that I _liked_ him.

Luckily, Shawn ruined our kiss and made Damon pull away when he came outside. I could clearly see that Damon wasn't embarrassed by this, but he did seem annoyed and impatient.

"Um… Shawn, just-just go inside," I said, blushing like a red tomato. "I'll come in a minute."

Shawn opened his mouth to say something, but shook his head and just went inside. I took a step away from Damon before he could continue the kiss and tried to find a gentle way to reject him. I didn't know him and he was the brother of one of my friends. Even though it felt right, then it also felt extremely wrong and as if I was cheating on someone.

"Let me guess," Damon said, knowing what was wrong with me. "You can't do this and you have to go, right?"

That was exactly what I was thinking, but how could he… I sighed and tried to remain calm. My dad always told me to take three deep breaths whenever I was beginning to panic or felt scared so I took three deep breaths and felt my heart calm down.

"Damon, I know I remind you of Avery, but… I'm not- I'm not her. I can't give you her back, but I do like spending time with you and–"

Damon covered my mouth with his hand and looked me deeply in to my eyes again. He looked pissed off and it scared me, but at the same time I could see that he wasn't going to hurt me. He was just… angry and maybe hurt. I wanted to help him so badly, but how?

"Forget that I ever kissed you," he said and I felt something disappear from my memory, but I couldn't remember what I had forgotten. "I…" Damon sighed and shook his head a bit. "Just go inside and only remember that we were out drinking… as _friends_."

I nodded automatically and smiled weakly. "Thanks for helping me, but… I better go inside now."

Damon nodded and began walking down the street, while I hesitantly went inside to my brother. I tried to sneak past him, but I was too drunk to be able to be quiet and actually fell over my own feet. Shawn hurried over to me and forced me in to the living room. He was about to say something, but he could smell the scent of alcohol coming from my breath and turned his attention to this instead.

"You been out _drinking_?" he asked angrily.

I covered my face with my palms and felt my cheeks blush and become warm. "Are you going to kill me if I say yes?" I asked nervously, but sadly Shawn nodded and just began scolding me, taking away my cell phone and telling me like a parent that I was grounded for a whole month!

"You can't be serious! A whole month?" I exclaimed, trying to stand up, but failing miserably.

"Yes, a whole month! Why would you go out drinking and then with some random guy you just kissed!" Shawn hissed.

I looked confusedly at him. Which random guy? He sure couldn't be talking about Damon, because Damon and I were just friends. But then again… maybe _I_ kissed Damon without remembering it. It would defiantly explain why he was smirking like that when he left.

"Shawn, I was out _one_-_freaking_-_time_! I'm not exactly becoming an alcoholic like you!" I hissed and immediately regretted saying that.

I had hit a weak spot on Shawn and he became so angry at me that he looked like he was going to punch me or something like that. But he took a deep breath to control himself and opened his closed fists, and sat down on the coffee table in front of me. He looked me in deeply in my eyes and seemed so frustrated as if he had regretted letting me stay with him.

"I'm sorry, Shawn…" I said, but he didn't want to hear my apology.

"You're grounded for one month, which means that you can only use your laptop to do homework, you have to come straight home when you're off from school, and if you need to talk with your friends, then you can call them, using _that_ phone," Shawn said firmly, pointing towards the telephone in the kitchen. "You understand me?"

I nodded, got up, and calmly went to my bedroom without saying a word. I could see that Shawn had changed the last few years. He had become much more responsible, mature, and acted as my legal guardian than as my brother.

Of course I knew that he was just trying to look after me, but I felt like he was overreacting and too harsh towards me. Just because he became an alcoholic didn't mean that I would too. I just… I just needed to relax today and Damon just happened to be there for me.

Though, now that I couldn't go on Facebook or even check if I had any emails, then I took out a book from my bookshelf named Fallen by Lauren Kate and began reading it. It was a goodbye-gift from my best friend Lola, who knew that I liked to read in my spare time whenever I wasn't dancing. I missed Lola and Zeke. They took me in right away when I arrived in England and had to adapt to a new country, and showed me how to have fun without doing anything criminal or getting in trouble.

Lola, who originally came from Northern Ireland, also came from a troubled family. Her father was roman-catholic, while her mother was a Protestant and therefore her father could be very strict towards her and the rest of her family. Zeke on the other hand came from a strict Christian family and was actually a bisexual, but his parents didn't know that and he didn't want them to know it either. Whenever he was going out with a boy, then Lola and I would help him cover it up by saying that he was out with one or the both of us.


	8. Strange Flashbacks

**_A/N: Hi, here's chaaapter 7! :)_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! :D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 7:

**New York, October 22 2010**

**Klaus's POV:**

_To my dear Fleurette, I hope that this will help you improve your English as well as entertain you. Klaus._

The book was old and worn out, but it still had her scent all over it. I turned the page I had written on and looked at the title. _The Way of the World_ by William Congreve. I had actually seen the play in a theatre with Fleurette after she finished reading it and enjoyed it, while Fleurette on the other hand would rather go outside and enjoy the weather than to sit patiently and watch the whole play. She was a very… vivacious girl and full of so much energy.

"Klaus," someone familiar said and took me away from my sweet memories of Fleurette. I sent Elijah a venomous glare and wanted to hit him for interrupting me, but I needed to hear him out first. Had he or hadn't he found Katerina and the moonstone? "I found Katerina. She's hiding in Mystic Falls, but… I found someone else while I was there."

"Like who?" I asked, not really wanting to know, because I had already heard what I needed to her.

Elijah stepped closer to me and noticed the book I had on my lap. He sighed weakly, but continued. "I saw Fleurette… or rather her reincarnation."

Immediately, my eyes widened. I couldn't believe it. My dear Fleurette had come back from the dead, but… how? She did use to tell me about her having flashbacks and other's memories, but it didn't explain how she was able to be reborn. Though, I couldn't ignore the fact that she was back and alive and needed to find her before she was killed again.

But I wasn't stupid. I knew that Elijah was hiding something from me and probably wanted to take me out like the werewolves and the vampire hunters wanted to. They were all trying to get to me and therefore it was hard for me to trust in vampires like Elijah.

"Prove it," I therefore said. "Show me a picture of her."

Elijah sighed again, but he took out a picture of a young 17-year-old girl, who had platinum blond hair with black stripes, deep-blue eyes, pale skin, and dressed in dark clothes. It was a melancholic and dark version of the Fleurette I knew, but it was defiantly her. I couldn't deny that.

"Now that you've finally found Katerina, then I want you to go back and keep an eye on her," I said and sat down in my armchair with the book and picture in my hands. Elijah nodded and was about to leave, but I wasn't done yet. "Oh and… Elijah?"

"Yes?" he said, sounding a bit worried of what I wanted to say.

I smirked weakly. "If anything happens to Katerina, the moonstone or Fleurette, then don't even bother to return. Understand?"

Elijah nodded again and finally left. I looked down at the picture of Fleurette's reincarnation, remembering the wonderful times I shared with her in 1714…

**England, July 5 1714**

**Fleurette's POV:**

"_I'm done! I did it, Klaus! I've finished the book!" I exclaimed joyfully and closed the book, looking confusedly around because I couldn't find him when he was here just a few minutes ago._

_I reckoned that he had just gone to his parlor to talk with Elijah again. They talked a lot together and every time I tried to listen to their conversations or asked to what the fuzz was all about, then Klaus either wouldn't answer me or else I ended up in my bedroom, not knowing why I went there. This time though, I didn't want to be left out once again and therefore I left the living room and went looking for him._

_Sadly, Klaus was just in his study room, reading something very important from an old book. He looked… frustrated and impatient, but I calmly approached him and gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek, making him turn his attention to me and smile. He always smiled whenever he saw me, but this time it was a weak smile._

"_I've finished the book," I repeated and he suddenly pulled me down on his lap, surprising me with a kiss. I could sense that he needed a kiss from me right now and I needed one as well. He had such wonderful lips, a gentle touch that made a shiver run down my spine, and his kisses… oh, those kisses were simply indescribable. But I needed to know what he was hiding from me and therefore I broke the kiss. "What are you reading, dear?"_

_Klaus frowned, but luckily he let me have a look for myself and I wondered why the text was puzzling him when I could easily read it. Though, it wasn't a normal text, but more likely old symbols and drawings._

"_I've lived for more than a thousand years, but unfortunately I've never seen anything like this," Klaus said, reminding me that he was much older and stronger than he looked like. "I reckon you can't read it either. Or… can you?"_

_I looked at him and wondered if I should use my knowledge to help him or keep this knowledge without having to fear that Klaus would make me forget it. Besides, I reckoned he didn't need this information anyway. The text just told about a silly legend about how the curse of the sun and moon could be broken. _

"_Fleurette." Klaus gritted his teeth now, waiting impatiently for me to answer._

_I chose to shake my head and he sighed heavily, rubbing his tired eyes and looked as if he needed some sleep. He had been up for more than two days, talking with Elijah, reading his old books, and playing around with me._

"_Please, get some rest, dear," I urged. "There's always a day tomorrow, isn't there?"_

_Klaus nodded, kissed me, and in a split of a second he took me upstairs with him, placing me on his four-poster bed and smiling brightly as he undressed himself before my eyes._

**Mystic Falls, October 23 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

Damn. I should never have gone with Damon to the Mystic Grill, because now I had gotten a nasty hangover, and felt like hell. It didn't help that I was grounded by Shawn either, but at least I could sleep in peace without having to fear that someone would call me and give me a splitting headache.

Sadly, my hangover just didn't seem as punishment enough to Shawn, because he entered my bedroom, whistling loudly on purpose as he walked inside and over to my bed. I hid my head under the pillow and tried to ignore the pain in my head.

"Feeling hangover?" Shawn asked teasingly.

I rolled my eyes and tossed the pillow at him, making him stop whistling. He was seriously beginning to annoy me again and not in his usual big-brother-way.

"I'm sorry I was so harsh with you yesterday, but I just don't want you to drink your problems away," he said calmly. "I've already tried that and it didn't turn out well as you kindly reminded me of."

I sat up, rubbing my tired eyes and trying to ignore the feeling of being nauseous. I felt like I needed to vomit, but at the same time I didn't. Shawn handed me a cup of tea and pushed a stray of my hair behind my ear. My eyes met his and I could see by the worried expression in his face that he felt bad about scolding me yesterday.

"Am I still grounded?" I asked hoarsely.

Unfortunately, Shawn nodded and before he could explain why or if it was still for one month, the doorbell rang and he had to go. But I was happy to see that it was just Elena and she seemed confused to see me like this when I was fine yesterday.

"Are you sick?" she asked worriedly.

I shook my head. "Just hung-over," I said, blushing from embarrassment. "I went out with Damon, because Shawn's girlfriend was here and… well, I guess I had a little too much to drink."

Elena's eyes widened, but it wasn't because of the fact that I had been out drinking. It was because I had been out drinking with _Damon_ – as in her boyfriend's older brother Damon. But I explained to her that we were just friends and told her that Shawn had grounded me for what I did. "That's too bad," Elena said. "I came here to ask you if you wanted to go out shopping with us. We still need a costume to the Halloween party next week, but… you look like you need some rest anyway."

I nodded. I wanted to sleep all day, but as for the Halloween party, then I didn't mind if I didn't get to go to it. I wasn't the partying type and always felt awkward at parties. Though, it would have been nice to have some fun with my new friends and maybe get some more friends, whom I actually had something in common with – other than not having any parents like Elena and I didn't have.

"I'll let you rest now, but before I go then there's something I want to give you," Elena said and took out an old, but beautiful necklace. It seemed slightly familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen it before. "It's a gift from us for surviving your first week here in Mystic Falls."

I chuckled a bit and gave Elena a hug as a thank you for being so kind to me when she didn't have to. She even helped me get in on, but as soon as she did a memory flashed before me, showing me a girl who looked just like me in the 19th century. She was given the very same necklace by a man named Giuseppe Salvatore as a Christmas present. But… none of this made any sense, because I didn't live in the 19th century and I didn't know anybody named Giuseppe Salvatore.

"I better go now. Caroline and Bonnie are waiting." Elena said, giving me another hug and leaving my bedroom.

I could feel the nausea become worse by the minute and was forced to run to the bathroom. I didn't remember for how long I was vomiting, but did begin to see more strange flashbacks that made no sense at all to me. I saw myself in this beautiful ballroom, dancing with Damon and having fun, but I looked like I had been crying a bit and we were both wearing 19th century clothes. Though, I also saw myself get a little too much champagne to drink and also had a nasty hangover the day after.

"Mel! Are you… alright in there?" Shawn asked worriedly outside the bathroom.

Hesitantly, he entered the bathroom and went to me, noticing that I was very pale – well, paler than usual that is. I had always had a pale complexion no matter how much sun I got. It was a great thing when I dressed up as a vampire at Halloween, but at the same time I looked like I had lost some blood or saw a ghost.

"How much did you exactly drink?" he asked, holding my long hair back so it didn't get in the way.

"Enough to forget it…" I muttered and felt the burning sensation in my throat again. Automatically, my back arched and Shawn tried to help me through the last time.

I sure hoped it was the last time…

"Shawn?" I said.

"Yes?" Shawn handed me a towel and gently stroke my back.

I sighed weakly. "I'm _never_ going to drink again! Ever!"

Shawn just shook his head of me and laughed a bit, then helped me back to bed and made breakfast.


	9. Long Lost Lovers

**_A/N: Hiiii! Here's chapter 8! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review!_**

**_Now I'm gonna finish reading "The Awakening" by Kelley Armstrong... *opens book and begins to read*_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 8:

**Mystic Falls, October 31 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

The day of the big Halloween party had finally arrived and even though Shawn said I could go too, then I didn't want to. Parties and I just didn't go well. The last time I was at a party was three years ago where Lola helped me sneak out of my aunt's home to go to Zeke's party.

At that time, I was only 14 and therefore not that experienced with what happened at party with alcohol, but Lola reassured me thFat everything would go fine and if I was lucky, then maybe a boy named Collin, whom I had a crush on, would finally notice me.

Surprisingly, Collin actually wanted to talk with me that night, but it wasn't because he liked me. He was trying to get me drunk all night and when I was finally drunk and vulnerable, he actually had the nerves to take me to the guestroom, only with _one_ thing on his mind.

Luckily, Zeke heard me cry for help and came to rescue me, which really pissed Collin off. They got in to a fight and before we knew it, the police came and dragged Collin to the police station, charging him of attempted rape on a minor. After that horrible experience, I didn't want to go to another party again. Mostly, because I easily became drunk and I was scared of what could happen.

However, it wasn't as if I didn't have anything else to do. I needed to finish the novel, maybe watch some TV, and talk with Lola or Zeke now that I had the chance. I chose to do the last thing. I missed my peers and needed a pep talk from Lola, who always knew how to cheer me up when I was down.

"_Wait a minute, Mel!_" Lola said as soon as she picked up the phone and I could hear that she told Zeke to hurry back to her bedroom, because I was on the phone. Then she put me on speaker and I couldn't help but chuckle when I heard them both, wanting to tell me how much they missed me at the same time. "_Anyway! How are you doing, babe? Is your brother treating you right?_"

I leaned back on the couch and enjoyed hearing the sound of Lola's voice. "I'm doing fine and yes, he is, but I miss you two so much. I mean, I have gotten a couple of friends, but…" I sighed heavily. "It's just not the same without you. I have almost nothing in common with them."

Lola sighed too, but I heard Zeke push her away teasingly and taking over our conversation. "_Don't be sad, darling,_" he said in his usual charming way. "_We're only a phone call away and I'm sure we're going to get the hang of the time difference soon._"

I heard one of them yawn, because it was about 2:00 AM in London right now, while it was about 6:00 PM here. "_Zeke's right, but let's not worry about this anymore! Have you met any hot guys?_"

Of course, Lola just _had_ to ask about that, but before I could even say a word, the doorbell rang and I could hear Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena telling me to open the door fast. I sighed, told Lola and Zeke that I would call them back tomorrow, and quickly hurried to the door to let my friends inside. They were all dressed up and looked beautiful as always. Elena was dressed in a stunning dress from the 19th century, while Bonnie was dressed as an enchanting witch, and Caroline as a sexy pirate.

"Shawn told us that you're not grounded anymore so why are you still here?" Caroline asked eagerly.

I shrugged. How was I supposed to explain why I was afraid of going to a party to them? "I… I just don't like parties," I said and hoped that they would go again. "But I don't have a costume either, so..."

"C'mon, Mel! It's gonna be fun," Bonnie urged. "And as for the costume, then we took the liberty to buy you one. I hope it fits."

They handed me the beautiful dress that looked like one of the dresses Kirsten Dunst wore in _Marie Antoinette_. It was simply stunning, but it reminded me of something very… peculiar. I felt like I had worn dresses like this one before, and for some reason I began thinking of a certain name. Fleurette. I had never heard it before, but it just appeared in my mind like the flashbacks I had last week.

However, I shook the thoughts away, got quickly dressed with a lot of help from my friends, and outside Stefan and Damon were waiting on us, wearing suits from the 19th century. I felt a bit embarrassed to see Damon again, because I remembered what Shawn said about me kissing him and wondered if I should ask him if I really did kiss him. Of course I liked him, but not in _that_ way. He was just a good friend to me, and nothing more.

"That was about time…" Damon muttered and teasingly opened the door for me as a gentleman, while Elena went in to Stefan's old, red car.

"Um… Damon, I know this must sound crazy, but… did I kiss you last week? You know the day we went to the grill and I got drunk?" I whispered, while Bonnie and Caroline occupied the backseats in his black car.

For a moment, I could see that Damon seemed confused about what I said, but he nodded and began smirking. "It's alright. I know you were _very_ drunk that evening."

I was relieved to hear that he was okay with this and he didn't mention anything else about that day during the ride to the Lockwood Mansion. Caroline told me that the Lockwood's always held the party and it was going to be great this year.

Even though I really didn't feel like going to this party, then I couldn't help but feel like I _needed_ to be there. It felt like I was expecting something special to happen tonight, but I didn't know what this special thing was. Though, I also felt like they all had a hidden agenda for tonight, because Damon seemed completely distracted by his thoughts, Bonnie wasn't saying a lot during the ride, and Caroline… well, she seemed impatient and worried about something.

**Lockwood Mansion**

**Klaus's POV:**

Last time I went to a Halloween party was in 1840, but it was nothing like this. Then again – it _was_ the 19th century and I wasn't at wonderful Queen Victoria's party just to have fun. I was there to hunt and if I remembered correctly, then I killed about four people that night. Not much, but not too much at the same time. I didn't want to draw too much suspicion when there had already been a lot of rumors of people dying from a mysterious blood loss.

However, tonight I wasn't here to hunt or to have fun. I was here to find my beloved Fleurette and I was at the same time keeping an eye on Elijah. Normally, I wouldn't just have left my secured home in New York, but I felt like I needed to come. I wanted Fleurette back and by my side as I finally broke the curse of the sun and the moon.

Though, I had been here for more than an hour and there was still no sight of her. I was beginning to wonder if something was keeping her from going to this party when I suddenly heard a familiar voice at the parking lot. It was her.

Fleurette.

My love _had_ returned from the dead and been reborn in to this new, dark, and gloomy girl, who still oozed of the same indescribable and strong energy that had drawn me to her so many years ago. I watched her as she walked with her friends and a girl, who looked exactly like Katerina Petrova, to the crowd. Though, _Melanie_ seemed like she wasn't really in the mood of partying and just stood with Damon Salvatore at the tables, talking with him about missing her friends in England.

It bugged me to know that she was talking with Damon Salvatore, because Elijah had told me about how he and his brother were trying to ruining his plans and in the way of mine. I wanted to rip Damon's head off right now and here, but I didn't want to scare Melanie away.

Therefore, I patiently waited nearby for her to be alone so I could get to her and remind her of the love we once shared. I also wanted to know how it was possible for her to reincarnate and I wondered about just how many times she had reincarnated. She must have done it more than one time, because she kept convincing me that Fleurette wasn't her real name and told me about her crazy dreams where she would see herself in Russia, Bulgaria, and even in Germany.

Now! Now was the time for me to make my move. I smiled as I watched Damon leave Melanie by herself, because he had to go check something. I fixed my mask and calmly, I went straight towards her, my eyes locked on her and completely dazed by how beautiful she looked tonight. Her long, platinum blond hair was curled, her dress fit her figure perfect, and those eyes… they were like the sea.

**Melanie's POV:**

"Where's your date?" a familiar voice asked with a charming British accent.

I turned around and my eyes immediately fell on a young man about Damon's age, who looked oddly familiar to me. I couldn't see the most of his face, because of the beautiful decorated mask he was wearing, but I was able to see his electric blue eyes and they had this mesmerizing affect on me. I couldn't look away, I couldn't sense anything but him, and all I wanted to do was to throw my arms around him for some reason as if I knew him.

Suddenly, the man began chuckling and my cheeks became flushed, because I noticed that I hadn't said a word to him. I felt like an idiot, but he seemed more happy than amused to see me like this. Shyly, I began picking on the hem of my dress – a bad habit of mine.

"Actually, I don't have a date," I admitted, trying my best not to blush any more than I already did. "I didn't even want to come…"

_This_ seemed to confuse him a bit, but he shook his head and kissed the back of my hand like a true gentleman. The feeling of his lips on my skin made my heart skip a beat as if I had gotten a shock or something like that. Immediately, I yanked my hand back and blushed even more. He just chuckled.

"You want to dance with me then?" he asked charmingly, making my knees feel weak and the butterflies in my stomach go crazy.

I didn't hesitate to say yes, because I hadn't had the chance to practice my dancing and missed it dearly. The man seemed pleased to hear this, took my hand, and took me to the others who were dancing to _Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)_ by Enrique Iglesias. I was surprised to see how good a dancer he was and felt like I had danced with him before. Our moves just matched perfectly with each other and when I looked him in those stunning electric blue eyes I just forgot about all of my problems.

"_You're so damn pretty/If I had a type then baby it would be you/I know you're ready/If I never lied then baby/you'd be the truth. And here's the situation/Been to every nation/Nobody's ever made me feel the way that you do/You know my motivation/Given my reputation/Please excuse me I don't mean to be rude. But tonight I'm loving you/Ohh you know/That tonight I'm loving you/Ohh you know/That tonight I'm loving you /Ohh you know/__That tonight I'm loving you/__Ohh you know/That tonight I'm loving you…_"

I didn't know what was happening, but something was defiantly going on between us. I still couldn't take my eyes off him and he couldn't take his eyes off mine. Why was I feeling this strong attraction to him? I didn't even know his name and had never met him before!

But I couldn't stop dancing with him and wanted to stay here all night, just to dance with him. He could almost read my mind, because he began smiling and put his palms against mine, making me feel a warm and tingling sensation throughout my body. Everything – and I meant _everything_ – around us began disappearing, but we remained as two long lost lovers that had finally found each other.


	10. Lukas

**_A/N: Hiii! This chapter is dedicated to my dad, who turns 53 today... Happy birthday dad!_**

**_Here's the chapter you've been waiting eagerly to get! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! 8D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 9:

**Klaus's POV:**

At last I felt her beautiful lips touch mine. I couldn't resist the temptation anymore and needed to know for sure whether this girl really was _my_ Fleurette and not just a girl who happened to look exactly like her.

It didn't take long for me to know that this girl _was_ my Fleurette, but I didn't want to let go of her just yet. I pulled her closer to me, gently stroke her cheek, and buried my fingers in her soft, long hair. I could feel her heart race, her breath become heavier, and the way she kissed me passionately began reminding me of the day I proposed to her.

The day she disappeared and was killed by my archenemy.

The pain stopped me from enjoying this kiss any further and I had to pull away from her. I had to leave before any of the werewolves sniffed me out and killed her again. But Melanie didn't want me to go and stopped me.

"Wait, where are you going?" she asked worriedly.

"I… I need to go," I answered, already feeling bad about leaving her like this. I wanted to take her home to my place in New York or England, but I couldn't just take her right now and here. She clearly didn't remember me completely. "What's your name?"

"Melanie." I kissed her again and whispered. "I'm… _Lukas_."

She smiled and watched me as I quickly left the party, just in time before Damon returned, talking with Stefan about killing a werewolf named Jules, who dated Melanie's brother. I wasn't too happy about that, because I didn't want the same thing to happen again.

Though, I knew that she wasn't here alone and I especially didn't want to piss off a werewolf on a night with a full moon, so I just watched Melanie instead from afar. She was smiling and blushing, and had changed in more than one way. She was her old, positive and vivacious self, and missed me dearly already.

Instinctually, she did something Fleurette always did. She was picking on the hem of her dress, looking so in love and happy. I wanted to stay watching her all night, but the more time I spent here with her; the more I was putting her in danger.

Therefore, I took one last look at her before I went back to my car and drove back to the hotel I was staying at nearby Mystic Falls. I didn't want to stay at a hotel in Mystic Falls, because I knew that my enemies would only sniff me out faster than I wanted them to. They knew I had the sunstone on me and wanted it back so they could break the curse and leave us vampires as slaves of the sun. Many had called me paranoid for keeping it on me at all the time, but they were foolish and didn't know better.

**Melanie's POV:**

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. That was all I was able to say. But how could he-how could _Lukas_ make me feel this way just by kissing me? It felt like we had met before somewhere or like we knew each other. But I also began feeling very… overwhelmed and dizzy and–

Everything went black before me.

I couldn't move or feel anything. I could only hear a faint voice say my name over and over again. The voice… it sounded familiar, but I was too dazed to put a name on _him_. I just knew that it was a man and he sounded young, but still old.

Though, the darkness was replaced by a light and in that light stood… Damon? Yes, it was defiantly Damon. He was in my dreams and he was frowning for some reason. Why on earth would I be dreaming about him? I knew we were friends and all, but… why him?

"_Wake up, Blondie!_" he ordered more than said.

I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was Shawn, standing over me with a worried expression on his face. I turned my head a bit and noticed Damon, Stefan, and Elena too. They all looked worried, while I… well, I was blushing more than I wanted to and remembered what had happened before I must have passed out.

"Are you alright?" Elena asked worriedly.

They helped me up on my feet and I had to shake my head to focus properly on them. My vision was still fuzzy and I felt like had one of those déjà vus again, but this time it was different. It was as if something had stopped me from seeing something important.

That just made no sense at all…

"I think so," I finally said. "And _no_ I have not taken any drugs or even had one glass of champagne!"

Damon chuckled, just as I expected him to, while Shawn sighed heavily and the others still looked worriedly at me. I too couldn't figure out why I passed out, but I was happy that I wasn't dead or had hit my head when I fell. I had fainted before without knowing why and sometimes I got hurt.

"Are you still fainting? I thought that stopped years ago…" Shawn said, handing me a glass of water.

"Sorry, bro. But you've missed a lot about me!" I said and couldn't help but laugh.

I was trying to lighten up the mood too, because I hated when people worried about me. I could take care of myself and had become very independent after Shawn sent me to England.

"I better get you home," Shawn said, shaking his head of me. "But thanks for ruining my date with Jules, sis!"

**Damon's POV:**

"What do we do now?" I asked as I watched Shawn help Melanie back to his car.

I turned my head to Stefan, who had that same old worried expression in his face, and frowned. If it was up to me then I would kill Jules immediately, but then Stefan and Elena would also budge in and tell me not to. Why was I listening to them anyway?

Sadly, Stefan stopped me before I could leave, because he knew what was on my mind right now and he didn't like those thoughts.

"Damon, we can't just kill Jules. She probably knows something about why Mason wanted the moonstone," Stefan said. Good point. How could I forget the afternoon I ripped Mason's heart out? Or night of the masquerade ball where we finally captured Katherine? "We also need to find out why Elijah told us to keep an eye on Melanie and how she's able to look exactly like Avery."

I nodded. We defiantly needed to find out the last one, because I was dying to know how Avery had been reborn. She had to be a part of what was going on. But which part was she? And which side was she on, anyway?

"Maybe we should try compelling her to see what she knows…" Elena suggested hesitantly.

"I've already tried that and got nothing," I said and of course they glared angrily at me for doing it without their permission first. "Don't look at me like that! You came up with the idea anyway…"

Stefan sighed and began walking towards the parking lot. But while he and the others went home I went back to the tomb to get some more information from Katherine. She knew Melanie and one way or the other I was going to know just as much as she knew about her. But of course Katherine was hiding in the dark again like a pesky little rat.

"Katherine, you annoying, little–"

"There's no need for compliments, Damon," Katherine interrupted and smirked devilishly. She noticed what I was wearing and just had to snicker. "Not really the best outfit, but it kindda suits you – in a boring, old human way that is."

I rolled my eyes and took out a blood bag from the hospital. Her attention was immediately turned to the bag like a cat just noticed a delicious fish.

"Let me guess… You want to know _more_ about your little friend. Am I right?" she asked curiously.

I nodded. "And this time I want the _whole_ truth," I added, fetching one more blood bag from my plastic bag. "One of them is spiked with very concentrated and strong vervain and the other one isn't. If you don't answer every one of my questions, then… well, then let's just say that your meal won't taste that well."

**Melanie's POV:**

"Why are you so happy? You just fainted!" Shawn said confusedly, shaking his head of me, while he was making us a cup of tea.

I blushed and looked shyly down at my newly-painted fingernails. When I came home I felt like changing it from black to something more… colorful and vivacious, but I wasn't exactly sure of why I felt like this. Maybe it was because of what happened tonight? Or maybe it was something else? No matter what it was, then I still felt butterflies in my stomach and my cheeks were flushed.

"You have to promise you won't get mad if I tell you what happened tonight – _before_ I fainted." I said.

Teasingly, Shawn put his right hand over his heart and handed me my warm, sweet strawberry tea. I grew to love tea when I went to live in England for those five years and I still loved it a lot.

"Fine… I met this British guy and he… well, we danced and he…" I bit my lip, feeling my cheeks become warmer by the memory of the wonderful kiss. "We kissed."

Shawn's eyes widened immediately and he looked completely baffled by what I had just said. He knew that I hadn't had a real boyfriend before and still saw me as his innocent little sister, who had to be protected from guys rather than dating them.

"You met a British guy and you _kissed_ him?" he exclaimed and accidentally knocked his cup down.

I watched it as it fell down from the table, hitting the floor with a loud crash, and felt like I had seen this happen before, but just where someone else had done it. For a moment I was feeling dizzy again too, but I shook the thought away and looked up at Shawn's horrified facial expression.

"Shit, shit, shit!" he cursed under his breath as he took a step back and began mopping the warm tea and broken glass pieces up.

"His name is Lukas and he… he kissed me," I said shyly. "What's so wrong about that?"

Shawn tossed the broken pieces in the trashcan, looked at me, and sighed heavily as if I had done something very wrong like sleeping with the guy after knowing him for only five minutes.

"It's not that you did something wrong, but…" He held his breath and tried to come up with the right words to say. "I just don't want you to get hurt. A kiss doesn't necessarily mean that he likes you."

"So what you're saying is that no guy is capable of kissing me, because they actually _like_ me?" I asked.

Shawn's face turned pale. "No! Of course I'm not saying that! I'm just–"

"Whatever!" I took my cup with me to my bedroom and slammed the door.

It pissed me off that Shawn said something like that – especially, when he was my own big brother.


	11. Three Little Words

**_A/N: Hii, here's chapter 10! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! _**

**_Oh, and I'm sorry if the French sentences are translated wrong... :/_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 10:

**England, June 29 1714**

**Klaus's POV:**

"_Klaus… Klaus… Darling, wake up," Fleurette sang in her sweetest tone. I opened my eyes and gazed at her; she was wearing a new dress – a white and beige summer dress – and smiling brightly in the light of the sun that shined through my curtains. "Good morning, dear."_

_I sat up, rubbed my tired eyes, and looked at her from head to toe, enjoying the view from my four-poster bed. She was looking beautiful as always, but I wondered where she had gotten that dress, because I had strictly forbidden her to leave my home alone or without me. I didn't want her to wander around in the open where my enemies could get to her. She didn't deserve to die because of me._

"_Good morning, Fleurette," I said and patted the mattress, signing her to sit down next to me. She crawled up in my bed and handed me a package with something hard inside it. I could already smell that it was shoes, but I knew that Fleurette wanted it to be a surprise so I didn't say what it was. "You didn't leave home, did you?"_

"_Yes, but… I didn't go alone," she said hesitantly. "Elijah accompanied me and we didn't go that far away. I just wanted to buy this dress and something for you as well."_

_I growled, because how was I supposed to protect Fleurette from my enemies if she left without my permission? Elijah might have been accompanying her, but if they had walked in to a pack of werewolves, then even he would need help. But I couldn't be mad at Fleurette and just took a deep breath to calm my rage down._

"_Are you mad at me, Klaus? Because if you are, then…"_

_I shook my head and gently stroke her warm cheeks. We had been outside for hours and hours the last couple of days, but her skin was still pale like always. I reckoned that she was looking so pale, because she let me drink her blood at least once a day. She knew when I was hungry and didn't hesitate to offer me some of her blood. _

_But right now… right now I didn't need her blood. I needed to feel her lips against mine and wanted to hear her heartbeat go faster. Therefore I pulled her close to me and pressed my lips against hers, tasting the sweet taste of strawberries from my garden. She had never tasted it before she came to England and now she practically loved them (!) But I also caught Elijah's scent on her and that stopped me from kissing her any further._

"_Is something wrong?" Fleurette asked, her cheeks all flushed as usual._

"_It's nothing…" I lied even though I wanted to know why Elijah had touched her when I told him very clearly that he shouldn't. I grabbed her arm out of rage and tightened the grip. Fleurette let out a squeal, but I didn't hear it. "But __don't__ leave my home again without me or my permission and __don't__ ever let Elijah touch you. Do you understand?"_

_Fleurette nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks, and I finally noticed what I was doing. I was hurting her. But before I could apologize she jumped out of my bed and fled out of my bedroom, scared of the person she loved. Last time I talked with Elijah, he told me that I was beginning to get too paranoid and I ignored him. But maybe he was right. Maybe I was being paranoid. _

_No. I shook my head, left my bedroom, and went looking for Fleurette. I found her outside in the garden, sitting in the gazebo and wiping the tears away. I calmly approached her, but I didn't go inside. I just stood at the entrance and looked at her for a moment. If she had been any other girl, then I would have been cold and not cared if I had hurt her or not. But Fleurette wasn't any other girl. She was something special and I… I loved her._

"_Fleurette," I said and she turned her reddish eyes to me. It pained me to see her like this. "I love you."_

_Fleurette's eyes widened again, but this time she was puzzled. First I hurt her and now I said I loved her? That didn't even make sense to me. However, I did mean what I said and wanted to say it again, to taste the words in my mouth a little longer. I __loved __Fleurette... It sounded like sweet music in my ears and as well to Fleurette. She began smiling brightly and calmly approached me, looking at me with joy in her eyes like she had been waiting for months for me to say it._

"_Say it again, please…" she said eagerly._

_I smirked, pulled her closer to me, and gently stroke her cheek. I wondered how three little words could make such a difference, but somehow it did and I liked it._

"_Je t'aime…__" I said in French and she smiled brighter. _

"_Je t'aime aussi__," Fleurette said and giggled. "But as much as I love you too, then you really scared me before. You know I would never be unfaithful to you."_

_The smile on our lips faded, but I knew she was right. She was probably the only one I trusted, but if I had to truly trust her then I shouldn't become angry just because she wanted to surprise me with new shoes. The shoes! I had completely forgotten all about them. I took Fleurette up in my arms and ran as fast as I could upstairs again, placing her gently on my bed. _

"_I'm very sorry about what happened, but could we please start with a clean table?" I asked worriedly._

_Fleurette nodded and handed me the package again. This time I opened it and saw that I was right. It was shiny, black leather shoes, but it wasn't the only thing she had bought. In one of the shoes I found a new and more powerful Lapis Lazuli ring with small moonstones. _

"_What is this?" I asked curiously._

"_A gypsy gave it to me today when I went to the market with Elijah," Fleurette said. "She said it protects vampires from the bite of a werewolf. But… she also said that you need the blood of a werewolf first before you can use it and the blood has to come from a werewolf while it's transformed. I… thought you could use it, but only if you __really__ need it. I don't want you to use it just to kill every werewolf you see. You'll promise me that?"_

**Mystic Falls, November 3 2010**

**Klaus's POV:**

_Yes, of course,_ I reminded myself. _Of course I'll promise you that._ I slipped the ring back into my pocket and scanned the grill for one particular person. I noticed him at the door, making his way to the bar and occupying one of the few stools that were left.

I watched him as he compelled the bartender to give him a glass of scotch. He was the only vampire I knew, who actually spent his Wednesday afternoon drinking here when there was so many other exciting things he could use his eternity to – like going to a country _far away_ from my dear Melanie.

It had frustrated me to see Melanie hang out with Mr. Salvatore, because I had seen the way he looked at her and knew that she didn't feel the same thing about him. She was completely infatuated with the alter ego I had created on the night of the Halloween party. Lukas. How creative! But it was the best thing I could come up with right at that moment. I didn't want to reveal my real name, because I didn't know how she would react or how much she would remember.

"More tea, sir?" the waitress asked politely, taking my attention away from Damon.

"No, thank you, dear," I said and smiled, making her blush for the third time today. Maybe it was my accent? I'd heard how some women were turned on when they heard a certain accent. "Could you please give this to the man over there at the bar? The one who is drinking scotch."

The waitress looked wonderingly at me, but she took the napkin I'd written on and handed it to Damon, who immediately turned his head to look for me. But at the time he looked I was already gone and he looked back at the napkin, reading the message for the second time and trying to figure out who had given it to him. It was a warning and he should be happy to have gotten it, because I normally didn't warn my enemies of what would happen if they didn't do as I told them to.

However, when I accidentally bumped in to a werewolf on my way out in the alley and of course the werewolf immediately sniffed me out. He pushed me further in to the alley and took out what looked like a silly toy with vervain in it. I'd learn to resist vervain after only 100 years as a vampire so of course it didn't harm me at all when he tossed the vervain bomb at me. I merely fixed my wet shirt and smirked devilishly at him, listening carefully as his heartbeat began beating faster and faster.

"It's your lucky day, my friend," I said teasingly and neared him calmly. He couldn't hurt me until the full moon returned and even then one single puppy wouldn't be any danger to me. I was faster, much stronger, and I still had the ring Fleurette so kindly gave me over 200 years ago. "Normally, I would looove to take my time when I kill a pesky werewolf, but I don't have time to enjoy this kill."

But before the werewolf could even blink, I stood in front of him with my hand deep inside his chest, clutching his beating heart. His eyes widened, but as I pulled his heart out they closed again and his lifeless body fell to the ground like a doll.

**Damon's POV:**

_STAY AWAY FROM HER! _

I rolled my eyes. Just looking at it pissed me off. First Katherine wouldn't tell me anything – not even for blood – and now I had to deal with some guy, who didn't want me to go near… who? I knew a lot of girls, but it had to be someone I'd met recently. Like… Melanie. Miss Sunshine, who apparently had fallen in love with some British guy at the Halloween party and who had become more like the old Avery.

Wait a minute…

"Hey Heather! Did the man, who gave you the napkin, speak with a British accent?" I asked curiously.

Heather's cheeks became flushed for some reason, but she nodded. Hm… the only man, who had a British accent, whom I knew was in town was Elijah. But why would Elijah _dance_ and _kiss_ with Melanie? That didn't make any sense at all… unless it wasn't Elijah, but someone else. It was another vampire or maybe a werewolf, who maybe knew _what_ Melanie exactly was.

Oddly enough, Elijah entered the Mystic Grill just as I was getting ready to leave. I hadn't met Elijah personally yet, but now I had the chance. However, Elijah noticed me and approached me instead. I ran my hand through my hair and smirked arrogantly, while he stayed emotionless.

"Damon," he said in his usual posh way. "Before you leave, then there's something I need to tell you. It's about a certain girl, whom I believe you know very well."

I snorted. "Let me guess," I said teasingly. "Melanie, right?"

Elijah simply nodded. "A little bird has told me that you and Stefan met her in 1863. Her name was Avery Cole and she was a very… vivacious girl."

I narrowed my eyes. How the hell did he know that? And why was he telling me this anyway? But I nodded and waited for him to get to the point.

"Anyway, I came here to warn you about getting involved with Melanie in any way. The same thing goes for the others. Melanie isn't… Well, let's just say she's not a _normal_ girl."

"What is she then? She can't be a vampire, because she's wearing a necklace with vervain and she didn't change into a vampire at the last full moon," I said, beginning to get a little pissed about all of these secrets about _one_ little girl. "Please enlighten me, Elijah."

I smirked, but Elijah kept his pokerface on. He turned his attention to someone even I knew who was and didn't answer my questions out of safety precautions. Jules was here and she was with Shawn.

"Take this," Elijah said and handed me a piece of paper with _one_ word on it. Völva. "It'll explain the _what_, but not the _how_."


	12. Cursed

**_A/N: Hii, here's chapter 11 :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review!_**

**_xoxo Ascha _**

Chapter 11:

**The Gilberts' House**

**Melanie's POV:**

"Thanks again for inviting me over…" I said and tried to forget what happened this afternoon.

I had just come home when I saw Jules in our living room _again_, but this time she and Shawn weren't doing something naughty.

Though, Jules wanted to go shopping with me and I really _didn't_ want to do that with her. She might be my brother's girlfriend, but why bond with her if they were going to break up in a few weeks or months?

Luckily, Elena called and asked if I wanted have dinner at her place with Stefan, Caroline, and Bonnie. Jenna was out on a date with our History teacher Alaric Saltzman so we were planning to watch a movie after dinner and have some fun.

But of course I couldn't help but feel like they _wanted_ me to be here, because of other things than what I thought. Maybe they wanted to hear a little more about Lukas or maybe it was just normal for them to act like that. I did enjoy spending time with them though and wanted to get my mind of the nightmares I'd had the last couple of days. I'd been dreaming about myself in different time periods, but in every time period there was someone who killed me. A big, dangerous, and strong werewolf.

"That must be Stefan! Mel, will you please keep an eye on the chicken in the oven while I open the door?" Elena asked.

I felt a shiver go down my spine and froze. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, and I kept seeing blood everywhere. I saw blood on my hands, on the chop board in front of me and on the floor, and I wanted to cry so badly.

Involuntarily, the tears began streaming down my cheeks, and I saw a flashback of not only the death of my parents, but also my death in the 18th century. I saw myself stand in a kitchen, making some sweet strawberry tea and humming a beautiful melody. When I turned around I saw an unfamiliar man with glowing yellow eyes. He was armed with a kitchen knife, but before I could react or scream he suddenly stabbed me three times. The cup was pushed down from the table when I fell to the ground and crashed before my eyes…

"Melanie? What's wrong?" Stefan asked worriedly and woke me up from the flashback.

I looked at him and Elena and saw that they could see that I was crying. I quickly wiped the tears away with the back of my hands and muttered a "nothing!" before I left the kitchen and ran to the bathroom. I locked the door, hurried to the sink, and just turned on the cold water, splashing on my face and trying to forget what I saw. I must have been dreaming. _That_ couldn't possibly be real!

I turned off the water again and took a deep breath to calm myself down, but it wasn't working and only made my whole body shiver.

"_Melanie! Are you alright? Please let me in!_" Elena yelled outside the door.

I dried my face in a towel and just sat down on the floor, hugging myself tightly and trying my best to calm down. I felt so pathetic for freaking out about something like this. But what if I was beginning to hallucinate? Maybe I was… schizophrenic or… no, I was just jumping to conclusions now. There _had_ to be a logical reason to why I was being freaked out like this.

"_Mel? It's me, Damon. Please open the door_," Damon said worriedly. I took another deep breath, got up, and hesitated to unlock the door. "_Don't worry. I won't bite, I promise._"

I couldn't help but smile and finally unlocked and opened the door. Damon was standing in the hallway alone, while Elena and Bonnie were trying to rescue the chicken before it was ruined. Stefan and Caroline on the other hand were nowhere to be seen. They were probably in the living room.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked.

I shrugged. I really didn't want to talk with him about my parents' death or what I had just experienced. He would probably just say that I was crazy and maybe even hallucinating.

"Something must have happened since you were crying in there," he said though. "If you won't tell it, then I'll just get Elena or the others to ask…"

"No!" I exclaimed and quickly stopped Damon from leaving. I didn't want the others to worry about me and I _was_ a little closer to Damon than them. "It's-it's probably stupid, but… I-I just remembered watching my parents die and-and I kindda freaked out. And then I saw myself getting killed in the 18th century and–"

"Wait, what?" I quickly shushed Damon down and told him told stay quiet, because Stefan was approaching us.

"Is everything alright?" Stefan asked worriedly.

I nodded and sent Damon a don't-you-dare-to-say-anything look that made him sigh heavily. But I didn't want to stay and tell Stefan too what was wrong and just went back to the kitchen, pretending like nothing had happened.

No one kept asking me what was wrong, because they could clearly see that I didn't want to talk about it right now. Right now I just wanted to have a good evening with my friends and… why did Damon come too? He wasn't invited according to what Elena told me. Weird.

**Damon's POV:**

"The 18th century… huh," I muttered and looked at Stefan, who stood next to me with that same, old worried expression in his face. He had heard what Melanie said too and now we were both thinking the same. Melanie kept being reborn and I had a possible answer to why. "I had a little friendly talk with Elijah today. He gave me this."

I took the piece of paper out of my pocket and handed it to Stefan, who immediately frowned when he saw the word. He didn't recognize it either.

"He told me that this word explained _what_ Melanie is." I added.

"Hm… Well, then let's look it up, while the girls are busy," Stefan suggested and took out his cell phone. We tried to google the word and actually found a Wikipedia page that explained what a _völva_ was. "A völva or vǫlva (Icelandic and Old Norse; plural _völur_, _v__ǫ__lur_, sometimes anglicized vala; also spákona or spækona) is a shamanic seeress in Norse paganism, and a recurring motif in Norse mythology…"

Stefan looked up at me and I looked at him, both of us wondering what the hell this meant. He tried scrolling down and found something more about it.

"A _spákona_ or _spækona_ (with an Old English cognate, _spæw__ī__fe_) is a "prophetess", from the Old Norse word _spá_ or _spæ_ referring to prophesying, continuing Proto-Germanic _*spah-_ and the Proto-Indo-European root _*(s)peḱ_ and consequently related to Latin _speccio_ ("sees") and Sanskrit _spáçati_ and _páçyati_ ("sees", etc.)."

Shit… This was defiantly not a good thing. If she was a shamanic seeress or prophetess, then it would mean that she might know something about the curse of the sun and moon. But why was she then reborn every century and died at the age of 17? It didn't make any sense at all! And even _if_ she was this shamanic prophetess… wouldn't she then be able to predict certain things?

"Guys! Dinner is ready!" Melanie called from the dining room.

Stefan slipped his cell phone back into his pocket and looked at me again. "Let's not jump to any rushed conclusions. We can't trust Elijah and need to find out why Jules is dating Shawn. It _can't_ be a coincidence."

I nodded. It would be stupid to trust Elijah and stupider to ignore what that pesky little werewolf was doing with Shawn. She couldn't possibly just be in love with him, because he wasn't a werewolf too and she only came here to find Mason and the moonstone.

"Wait," I said and stopped Stefan from going inside to the others. "Try seeing if you can convince Katherine into telling us what else she knows about Melanie. She won't tell me anything, but you…"

Stefan nodded and sighed by the thought of why Katherine actually returned. She returned because she loved him and wanted him back. But her love to Stefan was also her weakness and I was going to take advantage of that to get the answers to my questions.

**Stefan's POV:**

After the dinner I went straight to the tomb to talk with Katherine and found her sitting near the entrance, looking through her old book. She immediately closed it when she saw me and smirked flirtingly, because it was me. If it was still 1864, then I might fall for her, but it wasn't 1864 anymore and I loved Elena more than I loved her.

"Surprise, surprise! My lovely Stefan is here," Katherine announced and stood up, brushing the dirt of her dirty legs. "You didn't bring poor Elena with you?"

I shook my head and remained calm. I wasn't her to bicker with her like Damon always did, but only here to get a couple of answers and nothing more.

"I don't have a lot of time, but let's just get to the point," I said. "What do you know about Avery Cole? Damon told me you know why she keeps being reborn."

Katherine nodded, but just giggled. She didn't want to tell it no matter how many times we asked, but I had a secret weapon.

"Fine, then I'll just tell Elijah where you and the moonstone are. I'm sure he'll be happy…" I said and saw how frightened she became.

She quickly stopped me and told me that she was going to tell something, but only if I didn't tell Elijah where she was.

"I met her once in Russia in the 17th century," she said. "She was living with some vampire named Vladimir and let him feed off of her. I asked her why and she said – and I quote: _I am not a vampire, but simply cursed to help the vampires and werewolves amongst us, until the day I find a way to break the curse and finally die for the very last time_. She also said something about how she used to be so much more than a servant. I don't know more than that. I didn't exactly stick around..."

Cursed to help vampires _and_ werewolves? I had a bad feeling that Elijah wasn't lying to us. Maybe Melanie really _was_ a prophetess without knowing it and was reborn over and over again – forced to serve vampires and werewolves forever. Whatever she did in her past life to be punished like that must have been very vicious or cruel. Or maybe she was just cursed because of what she was.


	13. The Doctor

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 12! :)_**

**_This chapter is dedicated to my bunny Musse, who sadly died this week :'(_**

**_But I hope you like it and please review_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 12:

**Mystic Falls**

**Klaus's POV:**

Melanie woke up before I could throw another rock on her window. I needed to see her and see if she was beginning to remember who I was or what happened to her many years ago. She opened her window and looked at me, wondering who was disturbing her sleep so late at night.

But she noticed me and remembered the costume I was wearing on the night of the Halloween party and immediately blushed. Melanie ran as fast as she could outside in her pajamas and swung her arms around me without any hesitation. She had missed me, but she still called me _Lukas_, which meant that she didn't remember me yet.

"I thought I wasn't going to see you again," she said and took a long look at me. She wanted to remove the mask, but I stopped her. Who knew what she was going to remember if she saw my face? I could bring all the painful memories back – the memory of her death – and I didn't want to do that. I didn't want her to suffer. "What's… wrong?"

I let go of her wrist and gently stroke her cheeks with my fingers. I hadn't really planned what I wanted to talk with her about. I couldn't exactly talk with her about our time in France and England and I couldn't tell her that I was a vampire either. Things had changed the last hundreds of years.

"Oh…" Melanie sighed and let go of me. She seemed so sad all of a sudden. "If you don't want to see me, then why did you come?"

I frowned. Now she thought that I was here to say that I wasn't interested in her when I was more than just interested. I was deeply in love with her.

"I'm not here to reject you," I said. "I came, because… because I wanted to see you. I want to talk with you about… well, you."

"Then why won't you let me see you?" Melanie asked stubbornly. "You've seen me."

I wanted to compel her to forget wanting to see me, but I could see and smell that she was wearing a necklace with vervain. But I got an idea and began smiling teasingly.

"I take that you're not a girl who likes mysterious guys…" I said and actually made her smile.

"I do, but… it's just kindda weird, you know. Most guys don't act like you do anymore," she said. "Well, except for guys like Edward Cullen from Twillight and Daniel Gregori from Fallen and–"

I interrupted Melanie with a kiss. I missed feeling her soft lips against mine and I could tell that she had missed my lips too. She swung her arms around me again, kissing me passionately like Fleurette used to do. I wanted to stay like this forever and all of eternity, because Melanie had the same beautiful glow Fleurette used to have. I could sense that her soul was strong and fierce and nothing like the soul of any other mortal girl.

However, something stopped Melanie from kissing me any further, but she was just embarrassed of what we were doing – right here in her backyard. But there was something else on Melanie's mind and that something seemed to worry her.

"There is something I need to ask you," she said and crossed her arms, sending me a firm look. "I never told you where I live, so how did you find me?"

_That_ was a very good question… Unless I wanted her to freak out, become frightened or angry at me, then I would have to do something now. But what? I couldn't compel her, because she was wearing the necklace with vervain, and I couldn't tell her the truth.

"_Lukas_," Melanie said, gritting her teeth. She was beginning to get mad. "How did you find me?"

"Close your eyes and I'll show you how…" I lied.

I needed her to close her eyes so I had time to disappear, but Melanie refused to close her eyes. Sadly, she wasn't naïve enough to fall for something like that.

"Fine! You want to know how I found you?" I asked, frustrated and worried of what might happen.

Melanie nodded and took a step closer to me. She wasn't scared that anything would happen to her, but she was very suspicious and curious like always, which actually gave me an idea. I leaned down to her ear and whispered into it.

"Melanie, _have you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat_?"

Immediately, Melanie turned pale and froze. So she did remember something! I smiled brightly, while she still stood there – completely puzzled and a little freaked out too. But it was enough to keep her distracted for a while and when I walked behind her I was able to take off in a blur before she woke up from the trance-like state she was in and turned to look for me.

Of course I didn't want her to remember some parts of her past life, but I didn't see any harm in letting her remember how innocent and sweet she was and still is in some ways. But it might also have been for the best that I left now, because I could hear that a certain vampire was nearing her home. I'd told him to stay away from her, but there he was again… lingering near her house and gazing up towards her bedroom. He was wondering why her lights were still on, but he stayed where he was.

**Melanie's POV:**

"Shawn! Wake up!" I urged, but Shawn was sleeping like a rock like always.

I sighed and pushed him off his bed instead. I needed to talk with him about something very important and I couldn't wait until it became morning. But Shawn did wake up this time and quickly looked confusedly around, puzzled because he didn't know why the hell I woke him up at 2:00 AM. I had to go to school in about six hours and he had to go to work at 10:00.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Shawn snarled as he rose to his feet.

"I need to speak with you," I said. "It's important."

Shawn shook his head of me and cursed some more under his breath. He was more than just annoyed, but I didn't have time to bicker with him.

"Fine… what's so important that you need to speak with me about it now? You're not pregnant, are you?" he asked. "Because if you are, then–"

"God, no! It's… kindda complicated, but just hear me out before you get mad," I said. "The last couple of nights I've been… dreaming these odd dreams where I see myself in the 19th, 18th, and even the 17th century and-and I always die in these dreams. But… lately the dreams have come to me while I was awake too. Last night when I was at Elena's place… I had a sort of flashback of mom and dad's death. But I also saw something else. Myself in the 18th century – getting killed by a man with yellow eyes and there was so much blood…"

I stopped myself and saw that Shawn was staring at me – completely in shock and probably also horrified by what I was saying. But he took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. Maybe he thought that I was crazy and belonged in an insane asylum or something like that. Whatever he was thinking, then he sure didn't believe me. I didn't even believe myself.

"Mel, I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but… I think you should just calm down and start again in a non-so-crazy-sounding way. Kay?" he said.

I nodded and took a deep breath too. "But I don't know how else to explain this. It feels like a déjà vu, but it's so… lifelike and vivid. It feels like I've experience these things, but I just don't remember ever doing any of it. You think I'm crazy?"

Shawn shook his head, but I knew that he was thinking the complete opposite. Of course he thought that I was crazy. I thought I was crazy!

"I'm not sure what to say, but it's not the first time you ramble on about things like that. I remember that the exact same thing happened about 12 years ago. But back then you were just a kid and watched too much TV. Dad actually banned you from watching TV, because he thought it would help, but–"

"So _this_ has happened before?" I exclaimed.

Shawn nodded and signed me to sit down next to him. I didn't remember much from my childhood, but now that Shawn mentioned it then I did remember having a lot of bad dreams a long time ago. However, the dreams stopped for some reason after… after what? I remembered meeting someone, but I couldn't remember his or hers name.

"What happened with me when I didn't stop having nightmares? Did you take me to a psychologist or what?" I asked worriedly, almost too afraid to hear the answer.

"No, dad didn't believe in psychologists. He hated them actually," Shawn answered and began smiling of the memory of our dad. "But mom knew this man… I think he was a doctor, but I don't recall his full name. I just know it was something like… Murton, no Martin? Yes, Martin and he gave you something he said would remove your nightmares."

Martin? As in Luka Martin's father _Dr. Martin_? No, it couldn't be. I mean, what were the odds of him being here too? Besides, the doctor's last name wasn't necessarily Martin. His first name could be Martin…

But there was only one way to know this for sure. I had to become friends with Luka and if I was lucky, then I would get to meet his father. Hopefully, I would be able to recognize the doctor if I saw his face again.

"Melanie, you shouldn't be worrying about your dreams. It's probably nothing," Shawn said to cheer me up. He gave me a hug, but he gave me a noogie too. "_That's_ for waking me up so early! Now can I please sleep? I was actually dreaming about a half-naked Angelina Jolie and–"

"Eeeewww! Keep your dreams to yourself!" I exclaimed and left his bedroom as fast as I could.

No way in hell I was going to hear about him having a threesome with Angelina Jolie and someone else! But now I was reminded of Lukas and as I walked back to my bedroom I couldn't help but wonder why he didn't want to answer my question. He had confused me by saying something that triggered another weird flashback.

I shook my head and tried to forget what happened – well, everything except the part where we kissed and I felt like I was high on something illegal. But I couldn't stop myself from walking back to my window and look for him. Of course he wasn't there anymore, but someone else was. Damon.


	14. Strawberry Tea

**_A/N: Hi, I'm sorry it took so long for me to update. _**

**_First I couldn't login for some reason and then I couldn't convert my document :( _**

**_But here's chapter 13!_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! :D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 13:

**Mystic Falls, November 4 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

Normally, I actually didn't skip school that much, but today… I just couldn't get myself to go to school. I texted Elena and told her that I was feeling ill and after she had left her home I left mine too. I didn't tell Shawn that I wasn't going to school today, because if I did he would just get mad and probably ground me again. The old Shawn would have _let_ me skip and maybe join me, but now that Shawn had become mature I couldn't go to him.

However, I wasn't going to shop all day. I just wanted some peace and quiet and therefore I went to the Mystic Grill, only to see that Damon was here too, drinking a cup of strong coffee. I remembered what I saw last night before I went back to bed and chose to sit down next to him. We needed to talk – especially about why he turned up at the dinner and about what I told him that evening.

"Didn't get enough sleep last night?" I asked sarcastically.

Damon turned his head and looked confusedly at me, probably wondering why I wasn't at school right now like his brother and the others.

"I sense you're being sarcastic now, right?" he asked with a smug grin.

I nodded. "And I'm also a little confused of why you were standing in my backyard at 2:00 AM… Do you usually stalk your friends?"

Damon chuckled, but he didn't seem embarrassed of getting caught lurking in my backyard. He just ordered a cup of tea to me and I was surprised to see that he had ordered _strawberry_ tea and not some other tea. I eyed him suspiciously.

"How did you know I like strawberry tea?" I asked.

He was about to say something, but he stopped himself because he remembered something that seemed to bother him. Maybe it was another memory of Avery?

"Lucky guess," he finally said and took a sip of his coffee. "As for what I was doing, then I was just on a late-night walk when I saw you talking with some guy in your backyard. Who was he anyway and why was he masked?"

I blushed. I hadn't talked with Damon about him. "His name is Lukas. He's the guy I danced with at the Halloween party. And don't ask me how or why he came. He didn't want to tell me…"

"Lukas? Does he happen to have a British accent?" I nodded and Damon wondered about something.

"You know him?"

Damon shook his head and I sighed. I wanted so badly to know who was under that mask. I knew his name was Lukas, but he could easily be lying.

"Is something wrong?" Damon asked worriedly. "You seem... frustrated."

"I am, but… it's hard to explain. You remember I told you what I saw last night?" I answered.

Damon nodded. "I take you're referring to the part where you saw yourself get killed in the 18th century, right?"

I nodded and sighed, trying to shake the horrible memory away. "Well, the thing is that–"

"Melanie, shouldn't you be at school right now?" someone familiar asked.

The voice sent a shiver down my spine, but I took a deep breath and turned to Jules, who was standing at the side of our table, glaring at me with a stern look. Damon on the other hand, seemed annoyed by her presence and cursed a bit under his breath.

"I… um… well, actually I…" I stuttered nervously.

What if she was going to tell Shawn that I'd skipped school? I looked questioningly at Damon, who simply grinned smugly and looked at Jules as if he knew her. I couldn't help but wonder if he was hiding something from me too.

"Melanie is here on a school assignment to interview me about the town's folklores," Damon lied convincingly. He was actually convincing me too even though I knew it was a lie. But I nodded to what he said and luckily it made Jules leave the Mystic Grill after staring suspiciously at the both of us for a few minutes. "You're welcome."

I blushed, but I _was_ very thankful for his help. "About what I said before we got interrupted, then… I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but the last couple of nights I've been having these dreams – or rather nightmares – where I see myself die in different centuries…"

I told Damon the exact same thing I told my brother (except the part about the doctor), but Damon didn't say that I was crazy or tried to convince me that it was just bad dreams. He just sat there and listened to every word I said, until I was finished and feeling the tears swell up, because I was feeling so frustrated by what was going on with me lately. But it was nice to talk with Damon and he tried to calm me down in his own Damon-like way by buying me _one_ glass of scotch.

"Melanie, I know this might sound weird, but… have you ever heard or seen this world before?" Damon asked curiously, showing me a piece of paper with a word on it.

Völva. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd heard it or even _if_ I'd heard it before. Though, I noticed someone familiar in the Mystic Grill – someone I actually did remember seeing before. It was him. The doctor. He noticed me too, but didn't say anything. He just went to a table in the back and ordered a cup of coffee.

"Blondie…" Damon teased, because I was completely consumed by my thoughts.

"Sorry, I just… I don't think I've seen or heard of this word before. But why do you ask?" I asked.

"Oh, I was just wondering about something, but it's probably nothing," he answered and put the paper down in his pocket again. "You hungry?"

I nodded and while Damon went to get something to eat _and_ made a phone call to someone, I went hesitantly to the doctor and wondered what I was supposed to say to him. I couldn't just go over to him and say "_Hi, I don't know if you remember me, but I used to be your patient and had nightmares about dying in different centuries!_"

"Melanie…" he said though, sounding not at all surprised to see me.

I nodded and sat down at his table. "Dr. Martin, I–"

"You're here because of your dreams. Right?" he interrupted.

I nodded again and wondered how he could possibly know that. "My brother told me that you helped me the last time. You gave me something that helped me, but… I also have these dreams while I'm awake. Am I hallucinating?"

Dr. Martin seemed worried about that, but he remained calm, until he noticed Damon a few feet away from us, wondering about what I was doing. He took out his business card instead and wrote down his cell phone number, telling me to call later like when I was at home. I just nodded understandingly and went back to Damon, who was waiting anxiously to hear why I was talking with a man, whom he seemed to know.

"You know him?" Damon asked curiously.

"Kindda. Well, it's hard to explain, but let's just say he's an old friend of mine," I answered. "But there's actually something completely else I want to talk with you about. It's about Lukas."

Damon raised an eyebrow and almost leaned closer, because he _wanted_ to hear more about this strange guy I'd fallen in love with.

"What about him?"

I blushed when I was reminded of my last meeting with him. We kissed again and it felt so… wonderful, until I realized something. Nervously and instinctually, I began picking on the hem of my shirt and felt so embarrassed.

"It's just… there's something off about him. He hid his face to me last night and when I asked him of how he knew where I lived, he just said: _have you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat_? I mean, who says that to a girl? And why is it so hard for him to show me his face? It's not like I'm asking him to tell me his deepest and darkest secret, you know."

It really frustrated me, but Damon just chuckled. "Maybe he's just butt-ugly underneath the mask."

I rolled my eyes. "Damon, please. I'm sure it's not because of his looks. But if he wants to have a relationship with me, then I _need_ to see him. I need to know who he is and why he seems so familiar…"

"If you meet him again, then you could always invite him to dinner at the boarding house. And if he doesn't want to go, then… well, then just dump him. I mean, why use your time with a weird guy when there's plenty of other single guys around here?"

I smirked. "Like you?"

Damon chuckled. "Yeah, like me."

I'd never thought about Damon as more as my friend, but he was right. If Lukas didn't want to show me his face or at least go to a dinner party, then I didn't have to use my time with worrying about him. It wasn't like my whole world was centered around him… even though it did feel like it sometimes.

"So… Friday at six?" I asked.

"At what?" Damon asked confusedly, because his thoughts had just been somewhere else.

"The dinner party, Damon! Jesus Christ… You're getting old!" I answered and began laughing.

"Old? I'm not old! I'm the smoking hot Damon Salvatore, while you on the other hand is…"

"You better rethink what you're about to say!"

Damon didn't say anything. He just laughed and leaned back in his seat, clearly enjoying teasing me.


	15. Picnic

**_A/N: Hi! I'm here's chapter 14! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! _**

**_And the songs are All The Boys by Keri Hilson and All The Right Moves by OneRepublic :D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 14:

**Mystic Falls**

**Melanie's POV:**

A young man in his early twenties was standing at my front door with a bouquet of red roses when I went home around 12:00. He was nicely dressed, wearing a three-piece suit, open collar, no tie, and worn black leather shoes that looked kindda familiar to me.

For a moment I saw the image of a man, who was wearing an old-fashion kind of suit and he was standing in front of a big, beautiful mansion from the 18th century. But then he turned around and I woke up from the trance-like state I was in, only to be completely dazed by the sight of his stunning electric blue eyes. He smiled and I couldn't help but look over my shoulder to see if he was smiling to someone else, because he certainly couldn't be smiling to me.

"I grant you your wish of seeing me without my mask, but now you won't even say hi," he said, calmly approaching me. I didn't know what to say. This young and very attractive Nordic-looking man was Lukas. My Lukas. I became completely speechless and wanted to cry for some reason. "Melanie? You want me to go?"

I shook my head immediately and hugged him tightly. I couldn't understand why I was being so emotional about seeing his face, but it just felt like I knew him from somewhere. Somewhere… nice, but far away from here.

"Maybe we should get inside before you get a cold," Lukas whispered in my ear, sending a wonderful feeling through my body. His voice… and that accent… it was like sweet music in my ears. But he was right so I invited him inside and took him to the living room. While I made us a cup of tea he was looking curiously around as if he had been wondering for a long time of how I lived. "You live here with your parents?"

I knew that Lukas was just being curious, but it still hurt whenever someone would bring up the memory of my parents. But I turned to him and saw that he was standing in the doorway with a familiar look on his face that I remembered seeing before. It was… true joy.

"My parents are dead, so I live here with my brother now," I said and leaned against the table. Lukas calmly approached me and gently pushed away a stray of my hair behind my ear. He made me forget the memory of my parents' death and gave me this odd sensation of wanting to kiss him. "Why do I feel like we've met before? You know, like _before_ the Halloween party."

Lukas shrugged, but I could tell that he knew something. He just didn't want to reveal it – not yet. But I didn't care about what he was hiding from me right now. All I wanted to do was to hold him close to me and to kiss him all day long. Maybe it was because we were alone together or maybe it was because of the calm song that played on the radio, but something was defiantly going on between us. I closed my eyes and just listened to the lyrics for a moment before I felt his lips on mine again.

"_So long my love sick youngsters, goodbye my use to be friends/I remember each vacation, each day we wasted, it felt so different then/So long my Casanovas, farewell to my long lost prince/I remember all the kisses, the hits it misses, I never knew I love like this. After all the boys that I thought I loved before, I didn't know what love was, till you knocked on my door/After all the boys that I wished had love me more, I didn't know what love was, never had this before/Say you love me love me love me/You love me love me love/Didn't know what love was, until you love me love me love me/But yeah you love me love me love me, boy you love me love me love/Didn't know what love was till you knocked on my door…_"

It felt like forever since I'd last kissed him. I felt the soft strength of his kiss and it engulfed me, gaining its strength until I found myself wrapped up in him. Oh, that kiss; so hard, but soft; fiery but cool; a split second but also forever. In that one kiss, I felt safer and securer than I'd ever been in the 17 years I'd lived. But I cried, because knew that something was wrong. It wasn't him, but me. I was wrong, I was… misplaced, and I felt like I wasn't who I thought I was. I was me, but not the real me.

"Melanie, why are you crying?" Lukas asked worriedly, moving away from my embrace.

I opened my eyes and looked at him, feeling so embarrassed of crying in front of this wonderful guy, who was able to make one kiss feel like it lasted forever.

"I'm just… I've just had a very frustrating week and have a hard time falling asleep…" I said and sighed heavily. Lukas sighed too for some reason, but lifted my chin with his index finger and gave me a gentle kiss to cheer me up. "Forget it. It's stupid. I would rather want to know how you found my home and acted so strange yesterday."

"Strange?" Lukas chuckled and slipped down on a chair next to us. "I was just messing with your head yesterday, but if you really must know, then I have a friend who knows you and he told me where you lived. But… I was a bit unsure of which kind of girl you are so I kept the mask on."

Oh… see _that_ made sense! I poured him up a cup of tea and sat down at the table too, drying away the tears and trying to fix my makeup. I probably looked like a racoon or something right now (!)

"Tell me about those dreams of yours. Maybe I can help you," Lukas said. "And yes, I actually want to listen to your problems. And no, I'm not a criminal."

I giggled. It felt like Lukas already knew me even though we'd only known each other for a couple of days and therefore I trusted him enough to tell him about all of my weird dreams, about how I'd seen myself die in different centuries, and like Damon Lukas didn't seem surprised or freaked out to hear about this. Lukas seemed worried for me and unlike Damon, he told me to keep this to myself.

However, Lukas didn't want us to talk only about all the problems in my life and put some music on, because he wanted to dance with me. I hadn't told him that I was actually an experienced dancer, but maybe he guessed it when we danced together at the Halloween party. I remembered that Lukas was quite the striking dancer too and I remembered feeling this odd sensation of dancing with him before.

"I don't think I've heard this song before," I said hesitantly, listening carefully to the words and trying to remember which song it was. It sounded like OneRepublic, so maybe it was… Oh, now I knew it! "All the right moves!"

Lukas chuckled and nodded, slipping one of his hands around my waist and grabbing my hand with the other one. I placed my free hand on his shoulder and began dancing with him like I faintly remembered they did in the music video. I liked dancing alone, but loved to dance with a partner – especially an experienced one like Lukas. It didn't feel like we were dancing, but more like we were floating or dancing on the clouds.

"_It don't matter what you see/I know I could never be/someone that'll look like you/It don't matter what you say, I know I could never face/someone that could sound like you. All the right friends in all the wrong places/So yeah, we're going down/All They got all the right moves and all the right faces/So yeah, we're going down…_"

Everything was going perfectly, until Lukas twirled me around and then suddenly disappeared, just before I noticed that Jules was outside in the driveway – alone. I quickly turned off the music and ran to the backdoor, because of course I didn't want her to see that I was at home when Damon told her that I was just out "interviewing" him.

I knew that I would get in big trouble if she found me dancing with Lukas, but why the hell did he just take off? And how was he able to run away _that_ fast? He had just left in a blur and didn't even saying goodbye.

Luckily, I did find Lukas, but he was on his way to leave, which really pissed me off. I quickly stopped him and just ignored the sound of Jules, who was knocking on the door _and_ ringing the doorbell impatiently. Didn't Shawn tell her that he had to work today?

"What thehell are you doing? Why did you just take off?" I asked and could see by the way Lukas looked at me that he looked stressed or frustrated.

"I… need to go. I have a meeting," he said, but it was obvious to me that he was lying. Did he know Jules since he was lying? "I'm sorry, Mel, but-but I really _need_ to go."

"Oh, no you don't! Don't pull that crap on me! If you're running away, because you used to date Jules, then I'll help you. But _don't_ lie to me, okay?" I hissed.

Lukas sighed. "Fine, follow me. There's something I want to show you

**Klaus's POV:**

I took Melanie to the outskirts of Mystic Falls where I remembered seeing a swing that reminded me of the one Fleurette used to swing on. After I'd _overheard_ her conversation with Damon today I'd decided to try getting her memory back – painful or not. I couldn't take the waiting and the lies and I had a bad feeling that she needed to know who I was and what I was if she wanted to be safe.

Even though Melanie was a little worried about going to the outskirts of the town, then she trusted me and wanted to get away from Jules before she got in trouble with her and Shawn. As for what I was going to do with Jules, then I first wanted to know who had sent her and if she really was here to kill Melanie like when the old leader of her pack killed my dear Fleurette. He took away the only person I'd ever loved. He took away my soul mate…

"Lukas? What is this place?" Melanie asked curiously, pointing towards the old place where there used to be a cabin and a playground.

It was the area where all the Salem witches were burned, but only I knew that so far and no one else needed to know about it. Not even Melanie. She had her own problems and past to deal with anyway and shouldn't focus on what would happen in the future.

"It's just… well, I'm not actually sure about it myself, but I just noticed it one day," I partially lied. Not all of it was a lie, because I did in fact notice it on the day I left New York to find her. "I thought we could have a proper first date there."

I parked my car about half a mile from the place and took out a picnic basket I'd kept in my car before I came to visit her. If I took her on a first date then she wouldn't force me to the dinner party and I would avoid being seen by the Salvatore brothers and the Petrova doppelganger.

"It's… really nice. And quiet," Melanie said and instinctively sat down on the swing. I couldn't help but smile and pictured her in a beautiful dress from the 18th century, her long blonde hair curled like always. A part of me missed that time, but I was happy to get rid of some things like the breeches, the cravat, and worst of all – the leggins. "I… think I've been here before, but that can't be true."

I quietly approached her and my gaze immediately trailed down to her exposed, delicious neck…


	16. Klaus

**_A/N: Hi again! I felt like updating two times today, so... here you go! Chapter 15! :)_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 15:

**Melanie's POV:**

"I'm starving! Let's get something to eat!" I exclaimed, jumping off the old swing near the big oak tree Lukas had taken me to. I spun around on my feet and saw that Lukas's eyes were locked on my neck, which only made me scared. If there was sitting a big spider on me, then… then I would freak out! "Lukas? Is something wrong?"

Lukas snapped out of whatever he was thinking on and removed his gaze from my neck. Maybe he was looking at my necklace? I wasn't sure and frankly, I didn't care either. As long as it wasn't a spider, then I was fine.

"Sorry, I just… wondered about something," Lukas said and began unfolding a blanket. Even though it was a bit cold and windy today, then I didn't mind because Lukas was defiantly worth it. Luckily, he had brought warm tea with him and it was my favorite kind of tea, which really impressed me since I hadn't told Lukas that I even liked tea. He first saw it for sure today – only half an hour ago. "Why do you look so surprised?"

"Because you brought my favorite kind of tea, that's why!" I said, smiling brightly as he poured up a cup to me.

Lukas grinned and poured up a cup to him too. He leaned back a bit and looked up towards the grey sky, wondering about something again. I wished I had the key to his mind. I thought I understood him, but then he would do something that left me puzzled. What kind of guy was he? And why did it feel like we knew each other?

"So… I know you're a great dancer, romantic, and very secretive, but… what else do I need to know about you?" I asked teasingly.

"A lot of things, but we'll get to that later," Lukas said, once again being secretive to me. "But you can add charming, seductive, and handsome to your list."

I burst into laughter and almost spilled my tea on me, but of course I knew that Lukas was just kidding even though he actually _was_ very charming and handsome. Seductive on the other hand, was probably something Damon was more the master of.

"Let's get serious for a moment," I said. I wanted to know so much more about him like where he used to live, where in England he was from, and if he had any family here or in England. I asked him these questions, but Lukas suddenly became quiet and looked away. "If… you don't want to talk about it, then it's okay. There are some things I prefer not to talk about too."

"Yeah? Like what?" Lukas asked curiously.

I glared him and he took the question back. We didn't say anything for a couple of minutes so to break the awkward silence I stood up and went back to the swing. Lukas sighed and followed me, placing both of his hands on my shoulders. The warmth of his hands sent a tingling feeling through my body and made the butterflies in my stomach go crazy again. It was… almost electric.

"I'm sorry if this date isn't what you pictured," Lukas said. "I just wanted to spend some time alone with you after everything we've been through. It feels like forever since I've last enjoyed living the life I live."

What? What was he talking about? I turned around and looked at Lukas. He seemed so different now and for a moment I feared that he was going to kill me, because of some odd reason, but suddenly he apologized and pulled away, turning his back to me. I sighed and went closer to him, touching his arm hesitantly because I was worried of what he might do.

"Lukas, what's wrong?" I asked, but he kept shaking his head. "Please… I want to help you."

Lukas finally turned to face me and gently touched my face with his fingertips. He seemed like he wanted to say something important, but the words wouldn't form in his mouth.

"Melanie," he finally said hoarsely. I leaned closer and slipped my arms around his waist. It was a silly thing to notice right now, but… he was actually almost a head taller than me. "I… I haven't been honest to you. My name… my name isn't Lukas. It's… _Klaus_."

I froze. I was unable to move, unable to speak, and just stood there, completely overwhelmed by all this old feelings and memories that washed over me like a huge wave. I stumbled back and felt like everything around me was spinning faster than I could handle. Lukas-no _Klaus_ tried to reach my arm, but it was too late. I had hit the ground and could see nothing but complete darkness.

The memories that had been haunting my dreams for the last couple of days came crashing back and I was forced to accept that these memories were _mine._ At first I'd been trying to find a reasonable or logical explanation to why I'd been feeling like this and seeing those flashbacks, but now I remembered… I remembered that Klaus was my fiancé and a vampire.

A voice woke me up from the unconsciousness, but as soon as I saw _him_ I jumped back, got back up on my feet, and ran as fast as I could towards the woods. I could hear him call my name – my new life's name – but I ignored him. I wanted to get away from all of this and the painful memories he carried with him.

Unfortunately, Karma wasn't giving me any luck today, because I fell and stumbled down a small hill in the woods, breaking my leg when I crashed into a tree and forced to scream so loud that he must have heard me. The pain was so excruciating that I couldn't breathe or even _think_ properly. I just cried and screamed, until he found me and I saw those familiar fangs extend from his mouth. He bit open his wrist and almost begged me to drink his blood, but I didn't want to. I just wanted to go home and forget all of these painful memories.

Klaus growled and pulled off my necklace even though he was burned by it, then put his hands on my shoulders, and forced me to look him deeply into his dilating eyes. I suddenly felt calm, but mesmerized and dazed as if I was in some sort of trance. But I wasn't sensing the pain anymore nor did I cry. I just sat there like a good girl and looked at him.

"Finally!" He sighed in relief and leaned a bit closer to me. "I need you to relax, forget the pain, and drink my blood. It'll heal you. You understand?"

Automatically, I nodded and drank the blood from his wrist. I could feel my leg heal quickly and after only a few minutes it was as good as new. Klaus gave me my necklace back on and I woke up, feeling so exhausted and confused. I still remembered my life in France, but it didn't feel painful anymore.

"Klaus… what happened?" I asked worriedly.

"You…" Klaus bit his lip and stopped. He wanted to answer, but he was unsure of how to do it. Instead, he shook his head and took me up in his arms, his eyes still locked on mine. "Maybe it's better if we talk about this, another day. You need to get home before your brother does and change your clothes."

I nodded understandingly and held a firm grip around him, reminding me of one of Fleurette's old memories.

The day Klaus proposed to her.

I remembered him being madly in love with her and couldn't help but feel like a replacement for his loss. Fleurette died almost 300 years ago and now he had found little me, who looked exactly like her and who had her memories, but not her full personality.

Sure, I might be curious, loved to play, and dance like she did, but in some ways I was still different from her and so had my other former lives been. But all of my former lives had something in common with each other. They were all curious and maybe that was why I was cursed to be reborn over and over again with the memories of my past lives.

Before Fleurette had been brutally murdered, I remembered that she had begun to remember more of her life in Russia. She had a bad feeling that she might be cursed, but she didn't want to worry Klaus any more than she had already done by telling him about her dreams. I didn't want to do that either.

**England, July 10 1714**

**Fleurette's POV:**

"_Where are we going?" I asked curiously, squeezing Klaus's shoulder as he took me to an unknown place. _

_In the afternoon he had told me that he wanted to show me something very important, but before we left his home he blindfolded me and just told me to hold a firm grip on him so I wouldn't fall off his arms as he ran with his vampire speed towards this special place. _

"_If you keep asking, then I won't take you to this place," Klaus said and chuckled. "Just be patient… even though I know you hate waiting."_

_I was quiet for the rest of the long trip and when we finally arrived at this place he removed the blindfold and I saw a big lake near a forest where Klaus had prepared a little boat trip for the two of us. But I rather wanted to swim in the cold water on a warm summer day like today and just forget about the things I'd been worrying about the last couple of days – my strange dreams._

"_I want to go swimming!" I exclaimed. I took my shoes off and tried to run towards the water, but Klaus grabbed my hand and pulled me back into his embrace, kissing me teasingly on my neck._

"_Later we'll go for a swim," He kissed me gently on my forehead, gazing at me for a moment with that wonderful expression on his face. The expression of being in love. "First we'll eat and then I want to–"_

"_What is this? A gift?" I took the thing I'd felt in his pocket out of it and saw Klaus's face turn pale. _

_He tried to get it back, but I ran away and quickly crawled up on a thick branch on the old oak tree nearby the lake where Klaus had remembered to put up a swing to me. He knew how I love to swing and how much I missed my home country. _

"_Fleur! Please get down before you get hurt!" Klaus said even though he knew that __I knew__ that he would catch me no matter what._

"_Only if you tell me what it is, Klaus!" I said teasingly and looked curiously at the little box._

_I opened it anyway out of pure curiosity and was stunned to see a beautiful silver ring with a heart-shaped Lapis Lazuli stone. I looked down at Klaus, who was standing at my feet, and blushed. I felt so embarrassed for ruining his plan for today._

"_Aren't you going to ask me anyway?" I asked calmly._

"_Fleurette Jacqueline De Sauveterre…" Klaus smiled, trying to understand what was about to happen with us soon. I jumped down in his arms and he continued. "Will you do me the honor of marrying me?" _

_I nodded. All I could do was to nod that day. I was so happy and so in love even though I had a bad feeling of that something horrible would happen sooner today…_


	17. Patient Doctor Confidentiality

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 16! _**

**_I hope you like it and please review! :D_**

**_I'm gonna give you two updates today as well, because... well, because you keep reading and reviewing this story! :)_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 16:

**Mystic Falls High School, November 5 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

"There you are!" a voice behind me exclaimed and for a moment I froze.

I recognized the voice, but it couldn't be who I thought it was. It couldn't be _her_. I turned around in the hallway anyway though and looked at my friend Elena. I wondered if she too had been reincarnated, because last night I dreamt about my former life in Russia and in that life I met a girl, who looked just like Elena. Her name was just Katerina Petrova.

"Your brother said you left early today…" she said confusedly, because we usually drove to school together.

"Yeah, I-well-I couldn't sleep last night, so I got up early and…" I scratched my head nervously and suddenly noticed Stefan a few feet away from us.

I remembered him too know. He met my other former life – Avery Cole – and his brother… _Damon_ fell in love with me. I'd been pretty freaked out ever since Klaus took me home and told me to keep all of this to myself. He did give me his number in case I needed his help, but I was only allowed to use it in emergency situations.

"Melanie? Is something wrong?" Elena asked worriedly.

I shifted my eyes back to her and bit my lip nervously. What was I supposed to do? If I told them what had happened they would just freak out and call me crazy, but maybe they knew what was going on and remembered memories from their past life too.

"I-I think I just need to… um… fresh air," I lied and quickly made my way outside, while everyone else were heading to the food court. I really _did_ need fresh air though before I would faint or start crying. But my nerves weren't calmed down when I got outside, because I saw Damon nearby the parking lot, almost waiting for someone or something. "I think I'm going to vomit soon…"

"I sure hope you aren't," someone said behind me. I turned around and sighed in relief when I saw that it was just Luka. We hadn't really talked together before, but from what I'd heard, he was a nice guy and new too. "Melanie, right?"

I nodded and he took a look around before he steered me to under the bleachers where we could talk in private. I remembered that I'd completely forgotten to call his father and guessed that he was here about my meeting with his father.

"So… I've heard you been dealing with some strange nightmares again," I looked worriedly around and nodded hesitantly. "Are you still having them?"

"Yes, but… I don't think your father can help me this time," I said. "But… how do you even know about them? Isn't your father breaking the patient/doctor confidentiality?"

Luka smiled weakly, but shook his head and took out an old book from his school bag. He handed it to me and I didn't have to open it to know what it was. It was Fleurette's old diary. Of course it was written in French, but I remembered how to speak and understand French.

"Where did you get this?" I asked suspiciously.

"From an ancestor of mine," he answered truthfully. "Melanie, I know you know that vampires really exist and that your dreams aren't just nightmares. It's kindda hard for me to explain, but basically I'm a warlock and so is my dad. Of course you can't tell–"

"Yeah, I know, I know. And I promise I won't," I interrupted. "But I don't think anyone would believe me anyway. _I_ hardly believe any of this."

Luka snickered a bit. "You'd be surprised how many who _would_ believe you, but let's not dwell into that right now. My dad told me to bring this book to you, because he thought it might help you to deal with your… _memories_. We're looking for the other diaries your former lives' kept, but it is hard when most of them are too old to recover or well-hidden."

I sighed heavily and just gently put the book in my school bag. "Luka, I want to thank you and your father for being so… understanding and for helping me, but do you know why I keep being reborn?"

Luka shook his head and looked at his watch. "I better go, but we should meet again tomorrow afternoon. Then you'll be able to hear what my dad knows too."

I nodded and waited until he was gone before I came out from under the bleachers and unfortunately, bumped into the person I least person I wanted to bump into right now. It wasn't Jules, but Stefan and he had a familiar look on his face that made me remember the time when he and Avery went to the woods together.

I hadn't realized it before now, but Stefan and Damon were the only reincarnations, who had the same name as they did in their past lives – just like Klaus did – so maybe… maybe they were vampires too. That thought only made me want to flee even more. Two of my friends might be vampires and didn't bother to tell me that they had met my past life in the 19th century!

What else were they hiding from me?

"Melanie, are you… alright?" Stefan asked worriedly. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

I opened my mouth to say something, but I was too scared to do anything. Stefan might be a blood-sucking vampire with fangs and-and oh God! Did Elena know what he was? Or was she a vampire too? I gasped and just did what my instincts told me to do. I ran as fast as I could away from here.

**Damon's POV:**

"She knows, Damon. She knows what we are!" Stefan said, shaking his head violently.

My dear brother was freaking out. Not only because Melanie might know the truth about us, but also because we knew what she was and still didn't know why she was like this or what it meant.

Were we supposed to kill her?

Should we protect her?

Or should we just leave her alone?

"Calm down," I said firmly and looked around in the parking lot. There was no sight or scent of Melanie here so maybe she was somewhere else. Like… the Mystic Grill. I went in to my car and turned on the engine. "I'll go look for her at the grill. Call if you find her."

Stefan nodded, but he didn't let me drive. Not yet. "Damon, be careful. We don't want to hurt her – especially not if she remembers everything about her life as Avery."

I looked at him for a moment, but nodded and headed to the Mystic Grill as fast as I could, scanning the streets for a blonde-haired girl with a black and purple school bag with badges on it. It wouldn't be hard to look for something unique like that, but it was still like looking for a needle in a haystack when she could be anywhere in Mystic Falls. She might not even be in Mystic Falls anymore.

Luckily, I found out that the last thing wasn't the case. Melanie was still here – just hiding at the graveyard and looking at some of the gravestones to take her mind of whatever was bothering here.

The way she was pacing back and forth and nervously picking on the hem of her shirt, reminded me of Avery and for a moment I wanted to go to her and kiss her, but I knew that she only looked at me as a friend, so I didn't do it. I just quietly snuck up on her and tried to hear what she was murmuring in what sounded like French.

"I didn't know you could speak French," I said and heard how her heart almost skipped a beat. She froze and hesitantly turned to me, looking paler than usually. She did know what I was, but she was struggling to believe it. "You figured it out, didn't you? You know what I am. What Stefan is."

Melanie sighed, but nodded and sat down on a bench nearby. She looked mentally exhausted and it made me wonder what she exactly did yesterday after she went home. Had she even talked with Lukas about the dinner party tonight?

"Why… why didn't you tell me anything?" she asked calmly. "I thought you were my friend."

"I am and what was I supposed to say? You suddenly show up out of nowhere after 148 years and don't remember anything about your past life. I couldn't just go to you and tell that I am a vampire," I answered. "Besides, when did you even realize that you had been reborn?"

Melanie shrugged. It wasn't a _I don't know_ shrug, but a _I'm not allowed to tell you_ shrug, which only made me think that she was hiding a more from us. However, I noticed that Jules was nearby and therefore I signed for her to follow me. As soon as she saw Jules too, she didn't hesitate to follow me and I quickly took her to my home before Jules caught scent of us.

"There are some things I don't understand, Damon," Melanie said as I was driving. "How are you able to walk in the sun? Do you really drink blood? And when were you–"

"Wow-wow! One question at a time," I interrupted. "Firstly, this pretty little thing isn't just for show…" I showed her my Lapis Lazuli ring and she nodded understandingly. "It protects vampires from the sun. Secondly, we do drink blood, but Stefan is currently on an animal-diet and forced me to drink blood from the blood bank, so I won't bite you. Thirdly, a bitch vampire named Katherine Pierce turned me a few months after you suddenly disappeared. Where _did_ you disappear off to?"

Melanie sighed heavily by the memory. Whatever happened to her as Avery then it must have been something horrible.

"I went to the woods to clear my mind after I heard that my dad was dead and… a werewolf killed me. I don't remember much of it because it happened so fast, but I don't want to remember it either. It still hurts mentally."

So that was why she didn't seem to like Jules… It was her instincts that reacted on old memories with werewolves who wanted to kill her for some reason.

"Damon, can I trust you?" Melanie asked when I parked my car and turned off the engine.

I looked at her narrowing my eyes a bit and trying to guess where she was going with this. Of course she could trust me. I was her friend both in the 19th century and now and I sincerely cared about her. She was a lot like me sometimes and I could talk with about other things than emotions. She was kindda like Stefan's best friend Lexi, but just my best friend instead… dear God, now I sounded like Stefan! I seriously needed to get more out and maybe have some fresh human blood.

"Of course you can." I simply answered. "What's wrong?"

"I… I know I shouldn't be saying this, but… I think I might be cursed, you know," Melanie said sadly. "I think I'm being punished for something I did a long time ago and… I don't want to die before I turn 18 again. I don't want to feel the same pain over and over again."

I could see that she was tearing up. She really_ was_ in pain and I wanted to help her so badly, but I didn't even know where to start looking. So I just took ushered her inside and made a cup of her favorite tea that could help her calm down.

And while Melanie was calming down in the living room, I sent a text to Stefan saying that I'd found her and brought her to our home. He told me to keep her occupied until he and Elena arrived too.


	18. Complicated

**_A/N: Hi again, here's chapter 17! :D_**

**_I hope you like this too and please review!_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 17:

**The Salvatore Boarding House**

**Melanie's POV:**

A part of me wanted to close my eyes and forget everything that had happened to me the last hundreds of years, forget that I ever found out that vampires really did exists, and just live a normal life. I didn't want to remember how I died or how I lost my parents to vampire hunters, murderers or just the brother of a criminal…

I sighed of the most recent memory of my parents' death and tried to distract myself by focusing on Damon, who entered his living room with a cup of strawberry tea that would help me calm down. He was frowning and looked truly concerned for me.

But I was reminded of the time when we kissed at the lake and it made me blush a lot. We had some unfinished business and even though I only cared for Damon as my closest friend, then I couldn't help but wonder if these old feelings I had for him meant something else other than just a good friendship – then again… I still _loved_ Klaus, so I didn't want to ruin what I had with him.

"Remember the time I asked you if you knew the word Völva?" Damon asked and calmly sat down next to me.

I nodded, unsure of where he was going with this. "Well, Stefan and I looked it up and it's an old word for a shamanic seeress. A prophet if you will. We think _you're_ a shamanic seeress."

"What? But I don't have any powers! The only thing I'm capable of is to see my past lives' memories!" I exclaimed confusedly.

Damon sighed and leaned back in the couch. He seemed confused about that too, which meant that it was only a theory. He and Stefan didn't know for sure if I really was a shamanic seeress or if the word they had found somehow meant something else.

"Maybe a shamanic seeress was the one who cursed you?" Damon suggested to calm me down.

Yeah, maybe. But I still wondered _why_ she would do something like that. Did I kill someone? Did I hurt anyone? What did I do to get myself cursed?

"Damon? Melanie?" someone called from the entrance.

We both looked up, but before I could open my mouth to speak, Stefan and Elena suddenly entered the living room and I blushed of the memory of how I just fled from Stefan earlier today. However, they seemed more worried than angry at me and wanted to know if I was okay.

"I'm a little shaken up, but… I promise I won't say anything to anyone if you just… well, tell me what the hell is going on here. I mean, you're vampires and Elena is… um… Elena what are you exactly?" I asked worriedly.

I knew she wasn't a normal human, because I clearly remembered meeting her in Russia in the 17th century.

"It's kindda hard to explain, but… basically I'm the doppelganger to a vampire named Katerina Petrova, who is also the vampire who turned Stefan and Damon, and–"

"Wait, what?" I exclaimed.

I wasn't surprised by the fact that she was the doppelganger of Katerina, but more by the fact that Katerina was Katherine Pierce. She might still be alive and maybe she could help me get the rest of my memories back. I just had to meet her and ask if she remembered anything about my past life as Valentina Konstantinov.

"You know her?" Damon asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, I know her…" I said softly and sighed. "We met once in Russia 1622. I don't remember much, but I do remember that my name was Valentina and I lived alone with another vampire named Vladimir. He… I can't remember what happened to him or me, but I think I was his servant-yes, I gave him blood and…"

I got up in a trance-like state and took the letter opener, slicing my wrist open instinctively, but Damon quickly stopped me before I could slice my other wrist open. He gave me some of my blood and reminded me of the time Klaus gave me some of his.

"Melanie, wake up!" he urged, shaking me until I finally woke up and looked confusedly at everyone.

"Sorry… I don't know what happened. It's kindda a reflex," I said and sat down on the couch again. "I'm defiantly sure that I'm cursed now, but… why? And why does Elena look like Katerina?"

"We're not sure, but to make a long story short, then the oldest vampire alive wants to break the curse of the sun and the moon so we vampires can walk in daylight, while the werewolves are forced to only being able to change when there is a full moon. He needs the blood of a doppelganger to do so and that is where Elena shows up."

"Oh… Who is he? I mean, it's not Dracula is it?" I asked curiously.

Damon laughed dryly and shook his head, while Elena and Stefan still looked serious. They were scared for whoever was after Elena and everything that was going on was pretty serious too.

"We don't know much about him, but we do know that his name is Klaus," Stefan said. My eyes widened immediately, because I had a bad feeling that they were talking about the same Klaus I knew. But I didn't say anything and just tried to stay calm. Sadly, both Stefan and Damon could see that I recognized the name and wanted to know more. "You've met him too?"

I promised Klaus I wouldn't tell anyone about him, so if he really was the oldest vampire alive, then I wouldn't tell them it. I loved him. I'd seen his good sides and knew that there was still something human inside him.

"Melanie, if you've met or know him, then you need to say it. We need to find a way to kill him before he gets to Elena and breaks the curse!" Damon said impatiently.

I shook my head and tried to convince myself that I wasn't doing anything wrong even though I was. I was putting Elena in danger just, because I didn't want them to know that I might be in love with the vampire they were looking for.

"It just… sounded familiar. That's all…" I said and pretended that I'd just gotten a text message.

Ironically, I had. It was from Klaus. I smiled and opened it.

_Have you told __them__ anything?_

Okay… not what I expected him to text me, but at least he wasn't forgetting about me.

_No, of course not. But is it true that u r the oldest vamp alive?_

Klaus didn't reply immediately, which only confirmed my suspicion. He was the vampire they were looking for and he was the one who was after Elena.

"I better get home," I said. "But if I remember anything then I promise I'll text you."

Stefan offered to take me home, but before I could respond, Damon ushered me to go outside to his car and drove me home. He seemed agitated, but his anger seemed to be towards me, because he probably suspected me for lying to them.

"You're mad at me," I said more than asked. Damon muttered something that sounded like a curse and looked at me. "I'm sorry Damon, but I don't know who Klaus is."

I wasn't a complete lie, because I didn't know Klaus that well. When I was still Fleurette, he would always be so secretive with me and rather wanted to talk with me about _my_ life instead of his own. I remembered that he always used answer "_it's a long and very tiring story_".

"If that's true, then why did your heart suddenly beat faster when we mentioned his name?" Damon asked and suddenly stopped the car so hard that I would probably have flown out of the window if I hadn't remembered my seatbelt.

I looked out of the window and noticed that we were right outside my home. Shawn _and_ Jules were home, but as much as I hated spending time with Jules, then I would much rather prefer to go inside than to sit in Damon's car with him glaring angrily at me. He could snap my neck if he wanted to or drink me dry of my blood. But I couldn't make myself tell him the truth no matter how much I wanted to. It hurt to betray Damon like that, but I knew he would do the same if he was in love. So I tried to leave the car, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him.

"Mel… Whatever you're not telling us, then it's not worth holding it back," he said and I tried to leave again, but he just tightened his grip. I tried to keep my tears in and to stay calm. I really did. But the way he looked at me… He made me feel like I was killing them. Maybe I was. Klaus _was_ after Elena and they were trying to protect her. "Do you or do you not know Klaus?"

"D-Damon, you-you're hurting me!" I whimpered.

Damon finally let go and for a moment I just sat there sobbing. My hands were shaking in my lap so I clenched them and took a couple of deep breath to calm myself down.

"I'm sorry Damon," I whispered. "I… I do know… him, but… it's… _complicated._"

Damon snorted and shook his head of me. He didn't understand. How could he? I couldn't tell him the truth about Klaus, but I could tell him something else.

"Fine! Then pretend I'm a 4-year-old! Tell me _what_ you–"

"Damon, don't do this to me!" I interrupted, tears were streaming down my cheeks and my whole body was shaking now. But I met his gaze and his anger disappeared when he saw how much I hated being in this position. "I _won't_ let anything happen to you or the others. Especially not Elena. But don't force me to-to…"

"You used to love him, didn't you?" Damon suddenly asked.

My eyes widened and my heart began beating faster. That only confirmed Damon's suspicion. He smirked smugly and leant back in his seat as if he had just realized something.

"Go," I tried to say something to him – to apologize – but he just waved me off and turned on the engine again. "Go. We'll talk about it another time."

I sighed heavily and left his car. He drove off immediately and it didn't help that Shawn was standing on the porch, looking at me crying. He tried to say something to me, but I pushed him away and just ran to my bedroom. I locked the door and fell my knees go weak under me. I fell to the ground and cried more than I'd ever done since I came to Mystic Falls.

I needed my parents. I needed… _someone_, who could tell me that all of this was just a horrible dream – that I had perfectly normal almost-boyfriend, completely normal and human friends, and only remembered _one_ life.

I… needed Zeke and Lola.


	19. Elijah

**_A/N: Hii! Here's chapter 18! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review!_**

**_Oh and just a little reminder - (Sadly) I do not own the Vampire Diaries or its characters. But I do own Melanie and other characters that aren't in the show or the books._**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 18:

**Mystic Falls**

**Melanie's POV:**

"_Seriously, Mel! It's about time you call!_" Lola exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but I… I've just been so busy," I said and sighed weakly. I looked outside my window and noticed a black crow nearby. It looked like it was staring at me so I locked my window and pulled the curtains. "But I have good news. I've met a guy named…" I bit my lip before I said Klaus. I didn't know if I even was allowed to tell my _normal_ friends about him, but I guessed that I wasn't. "Lukas. His name is Lukas and he's really…"

"_You-what? OMFG! I'm soooo happy for you, Mel! I can't wait to tell Zeke about this!_"

I couldn't help but laugh. I missed hearing Lola's voice and wanted to tell her almost all about Lukas in person rather than over the phone. She would have hugged me and we would have laughed so hard that we both fell down on the floor.

"I'm glad you're happy Lol, but don't you want to hear how hot he is first?" I asked teasingly.

"_Of course! Please enlighten me and you're welcome to describe every inch of him!_" Lola answered.

I blushed. I hadn't seen enough of Klaus's body to give her a very explicit description of him and even if I had, then I didn't know if I wanted to tell _that_ much about him.

"Well, he's… tall, athletic built, has blonde hair, electric blue eyes, and before you ask – no we haven't slept together yet. We've only been on one real date, but I think he really likes me. But he's a bit secretive even though he's hot, charming, eloquent, and…"

A knock on my window made my heart skip a beat, but I told Lola to wait for a couple of minutes and pulled the curtains away, only to see Klaus standing there with a bouquet of white roses. I blushed, because by the look of his facial expression and the smile on his lips, I could tell that he had heard everything I said to Lola about him.

"Speaking of the devil…" I murmured and heard Lola giggle. I told her that I would call her back and opened the window, letting Klaus climb inside and give me one of his wonderful kisses. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw that you were crying when you came home. Is something wrong? Did Damon hurt you?" Klaus asked worriedly.

I shook my head. I wondered how Klaus knew about Damon and if he was spying on me, but right now I had other questions on my mind that were much more important.

"Klaus, they _asked_ me if I knew you and I had to lie to them. They told me that you're the oldest vampire alive and that you're after Elena, because you need her blood to break some curse!" I hissed.

Klaus's face turned pale and he didn't say anything at first, but just sat us down on my bed and held his cold hands in my warm hands.

"Melanie, I understand that you hate lying for your friends, but I've tried to break the curse of the sun and the moon way long before any of these _mortals_ ever became civilized. Because of the curse, my brothers and sisters can't walk in the sun and they're forced to hide in the dark like-like peasants!"

"That doesn't mean that you're allowed to kill one of my friends! I care about Elena and even though I love you, then I can't let you hurt her. I don't want to betray my friends, but I don't want to lose you either."

Klaus's jaw tightened and he began pacing around in my bedroom, thinking about what he could say to convince me to help him.

"Mel… except there's another way to break the curse without the blood of the Petrova doppelganger then I'm still going to do this. I've waited for far too long to let this opportunity slip through my fingers again."

"Even if it means that you're going to lose the only girl, who has always loved you?"

Klaus looked at me and I could tell that he was pained, because he had to choose between what he wanted and what he already had.

"_Melanie? Who are you talking with?_" Shawn asked, breaking the awkward silence between us.

I took one look at the door and when I returned my gaze to where Klaus had been standing, I saw that he was gone. I sighed heavily, closed and locked the window again, and went to open the door.

"Are you alright? Why were you crying?" Shawn asked worriedly.

"That depends… Is Jules still here?" I asked.

Shawn nodded and I closed the door again right in front of him. I didn't want Jules to interfere with something that clearly wasn't any of her business. But of course Shawn managed to get inside anyway by using a credit card, but at least he closed the door again after he came inside.

"What the hell is the matter with you? Every time Jules tries to be friendly with you, you just avoid her or leave! If you don't like her, then say it to me. Don't be rude to her."

"Shawn, I couldn't care less about Jules. She's not _my_ girlfriend or even my friend. She's your girlfriend and nothing more to me. You want me to be _friends_ with all of your girlfriends and then stop talking with them the second you break up with them?"

Shawn sighed and sat down at my desk, thinking about what I said. Of course he would understand why I didn't want to spend time with Jules, but something else was bothering him too.

"Mel, of course you don't have to be friends with Jules, but… you know I'm not always home to take care of you or to listen to whatever you're going through. I just want Jules to help me out a bit. So could you please just try to be nice to her?" he asked.

I shrugged. Even though I understood what he meant, then I still felt that there was something off about Jules and wanted to get away from her as far as I could.

"Please, Mel. Don't make me keep you from seeing Damon."

My eyes widened. He thought I was involved with _Damon_?

"Shawn, Damon and I are just friends! He actually listens to me, while you on the other hand, either have to work or else you're spending all your time with Jules."

"Then _who_ has been giving you red and apparently also white roses?"

"It's Lukas. You know the guy I kissed at the Halloween party. He actually likes me, but of course you don't know that because you've been too busy with your own life to notice mine."

Shawn sighed again and scratched his head a bit. He didn't know what to say, but I didn't want him to say anything anyway. I just wanted to go to bed and wake up to a normal life.

"So… you like him too?" he asked as if he hadn't registered that I was mad at him.

"Yeah, I do. A lot in fact. But I don't want to talk with you or anyone else anymore today. I'm going for a little walk and getting some fresh air." I answered and grabbed my cell phone and left before Shawn could stop me.

I did need some fresh air and just wanted to be alone for a while. Alone with my thoughts, my worries, and my memories. Though, I did remember to bring something else with me. Fleurette's diary. I'd hidden it under my cardigan before Shawn unlocked my door, because I was planning to finally read it somewhere private.

However, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go for a walk when it was getting dark outside… Like many others I'd seen a lot of scary movies and therefore, I couldn't help but look over my shoulder every five minutes to check if anyone was following me to wherever my feet were taking me. It wasn't me who was walking, but Avery. She was taking me to a place where she knew I could read the diary without getting disturbed.

Unfortunately, Avery wasn't the only one who wanted me to go somewhere. Fleurette made me walk somewhere else, because she wanted to show me something. I chose to follow her first and saw that I was taken to an old tomb-like cave where a familiar man was standing and talking with Elena, Damon, and Stefan. It was… no, it couldn't be or… could it? It was _Elijah_. Sadly, I couldn't hear what he was talking with the others about, so I just left quietly and went to the place Avery wanted to show me.

**Elijah's POV:**

"Is it true? Was Klaus in love with one of Melanie's reincarnations?" Stefan asked me.

"Yes, it is true," I answered and took out an old drawing of Fleurette, dressed in a beautiful gown from the 18th century. "He loved her more than anything, but… she died. She was killed by a werewolf the day he proposed to her. I told him that I'd seen her reincarnations to lure him to Mystic Falls. If you still hold your part of the deal, then we'll kill him, using Melanie as bait."

"As bait? We can't hurt Melanie! She has nothing to do with this and shouldn't be a part of it either," Elena said angrily. She obviously cared about Melanie too even though Melanie was going to be reborn anyway. "Elijah, we gave you the moonstone, you helped Stefan out, and Katherine is trapped. What more do you want?"

I sighed. They were really beginning to frustrate me. "Didn't you look the word up?"

The Salvatore brothers nodded. "But what does it have to do with Melanie? She doesn't have any powers, so she can't be a shamanic seeress."

I snorted. "That's where you're wrong. She was cursed. Her powers were stripped away and she was forced to relive her life and death over and over again."

"And you know this… how?" Damon asked suspiciously.

"I know this, because I've read one of her past lives' diaries. The past life that fell in love with Klaus," I answered. "And I'm not saying that we have to kill Melanie to lure Klaus out. But as for how Melanie fits in the big picture, then you'll just have to wait until she remembers more. Now I have to go, but… Damon?"

Damon looked at me. "Yeah?"

I smirked. "If you hurt Melanie again like you did today, then I won't be the only one who'll punish you for it."

Of course he frowned, but I left and went to look for Melanie in the woods. I knew she was here somewhere nearby, because I heard her sneak around a couple of minutes ago. It was in Fleurette's nature to be curious so of course Melanie was curious too.

Luckily, for me Melanie was somewhere where we could talk in private. I was sure she had a lot of questions and I wanted to know too if Klaus had talked with her. It wouldn't surprise me if he had. She was his biggest weakness and he knew that. He hated it, but he still couldn't let her go.

"Hello again, Melanie…" I said and caught her attention, she turned around and her eyes widened.


	20. The Choice

**_A/N: Hi! Here's chapter 19! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! _**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 19:

**Mystic Falls**

**Melanie's POV:**

"Elijah!" I gasped.

It couldn't be true. Or well, it could be, but… what was he doing here? And how did he know where I was? I tried to say something, tried to move, but I was too shocked. Elijah on the other hand, calmly approached me and gently touched my cheek. I still remembered the time when we went to the market to shop and how mad Klaus became of me for leaving his home without his permission.

"I thought I might find you out here…" Elijah said and looked around. It was the lake Avery once went to with Damon and where they– well, where _we_ kissed. "You've talked with Klaus?"

I hesitated. I knew that Elijah was a close friend of Klaus, but… did Klaus mean including _him_ when he said that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about him. No, of course not. Elijah was his friend and already knew what Klaus was and probably also what he was up to.

"Yes, I have," I said and sighed. "Is he's really that… _obsessed_ with breaking that curse?"

Elijah nodded and signed for me to sit down on a big rock nearby. I'd been sitting there only a few minutes ago reading Fleurette's diary.

"He hates mortal humans and wants his and others revenge. Many of our brothers and sisters have been murdered for what they are. Those who aren't evil are killed anyway and that pisses him off," Elijah said. "I know he loves you very much and I know that you still love him too. You're the only one he'll listen to and you're probably also the only one who can change his mind."

"But I _have_ tried," I said. "He said that unless there was some other way to break the curse, then he was going to do this no matter what. Do you know if there _is_ some other way? I don't want to hurt him, but I don't want my friends to get hurt either."

"Well… I think I know a way, but you have to help me first," Elijah looked around to be sure that no one had followed us. "I need you to keep an eye on Klaus and what else he's up to. And if you remember anything about your past, then you have to let either Luka or Dr. Martin know. You can trust them."

I looked suspiciously at Elijah. "But what about my friends? Shouldn't they know too?"

Elijah shook his head. "Not now. They're busy and this isn't any of their business anyway."

"Oh…" I took a deep breath, thinking about what he'd said and wondering if I could trust him.

Just because Elijah and I had been friends in the 18th century, didn't mean that I could still trust him. Klaus had changed a bit so why not him too? I didn't want to be so confused and wonder about whom, I could trust and whom I had to betray. What was I supposed to do?

"Melanie, don't worry," Elijah said, taking my attention away from my thoughts and worries. "I'll protect your friends and their family from Klaus. Just do your thing and then I'll make sure nothing happens to them meanwhile."

I nodded understandingly and gave him a hug, thanking him for having this talk with me. I needed to talk with someone else – someone from my past. But I also needed to get home before it became too dark so I left the woods and began walking home.

But on my way home I noticed a dark figure about ten feet away from me and the person was getting nearer and nearer towards me. I began walking faster through the quiet streets and prayed to that nothing would happen to me. The last thing I wanted to do was to die on my way back home.

However, when I looked over my shoulder to look if he was still following me, I suddenly noticed that he was gone. I stopped shortly and quickly turned around. I didn't know what to make of this. One moment a guy was following me and the next he was gone. It was like he had vanished in thin air…

I shook my head, turned around, and suddenly bumped into someone. I was about to scream, but the person quickly covered my mouth and hushed at me. I sighed in relief when I saw that it was just Damon. I was so happy to see him and just hugged him. I thought I was going to die or that I would meet a werewolf, who would kill me again.

"Relax," Damon said and looked worriedly around. "What the hell are you doing at this time?"

"I-I…" I blushed and sighed heavily. "I just went for a walk. I needed to clear my head and get some fresh air. What are you doing? On a late-night walk again?"

I tried to smile and let him know that I was fine, but I had a bad feeling that I failed miserably, because Damon still looked worried. I remembered what we talked about earlier today and realized why he was so worried. He was worried, because I'd lied to him and he didn't know if he could trust me anymore. I wanted to apologize, to explain him what was going on and why I had to lie, but I guessed that he would never understand why I did what I did.

"C'mon," Damon said firmly when he figured out what I was worrying about. "I'll follow you home."

"Damon, I'm so sorry," I said. He turned to me and frowned. "I'm sorry I lied. I… I got scared. Please-please don't hate me."

Damon looked at me for a couple of minutes, but he eventually nodded as if to say "I forgive you" and just continued following me home. Neither of us said anything during the whole way, but there wasn't anything to talk about either. We were still friends, but I knew that if I lied to Damon again and he found out that I'd lied to him, then he wouldn't forgive me again.

* * *

**Mystic Falls, November 6 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

Saturday afternoon I got a text from Luka saying that we could meet at the Mystic Grill. I went there immediately, while Shawn was busy cleaning his "precious" car. The black Chevrolet Impala used to belong to our uncle, but it broke and then Shawn and our dad used to spend their weekends by repairing it, until it finally worked again. I missed spending time with Shawn, but right now I just didn't have the time to do it. I needed to work out the things in my past before I could focus on my present and future.

At the Mystic Grill I noticed not only Luka, but also his father Dr. Martin. But they didn't want to talk with me here and quickly signed for me to follow them to their car. I drove with them to their home and they told me on the way over there that we would be much safer at their place than in the Mystic Grill. Besides seeing Jules there, I didn't know who or what else could be dangerous, but I didn't want to ask because I was afraid of what answer I would get.

"So… how is this going to work?" I asked curiously and sat down on their couch.

Dr. Martin said something in an old and familiar language, and made a certain book from his bookshelf levitate over to me. The book looked very old and dusty too. But I recognized the cover and opened the book gently to read the familiar words I once wrote down on the pages. This book was Valentina's diary and most precious belonging. Of course it was written in Russian, but I was still able to recognize most of the words.

"Read some of it and tell us what you remember," Dr. Martin said. "This diary might help your mind to unlock the memories of your other past lives."

I nodded understandingly and began skimmed the pages one after another, reading about Valentina's good as well as bad memories. She lost her parents too at a young age and ended up living as a servant for a vampire named Vladimir for the next many years.

Vladimir used to drink her blood and whenever he needed more than just _her_ blood, she would go to town and look reluctantly for courtesans, homeless people, and other outsiders of the town who wouldn't be missed. I felt bad for her, because of all of the lives I remembered, hers was truly the most miserable one.

But I began remembering that she too was killed by a werewolf, but Vladimir promised her that he would one day revenge her death. I didn't know whether he was still alive or not, but I did find something else that was much more important than him. During Katerina's visit in 1622 I'd written something down about what I used to be.

"_I used to be so much more than just a servant, but as long as the curse still rules over my life, then I will let my dear Vladimir feed off me and hide vampires like him and Katerina from the hunters,_" it said. But there was more. More than I told Katerina. "_Sometimes I do wonder though if I should feel ashamed or stand by what I did many years ago. And I often think about the choice I was given by the shaman who cursed me. Either I had to kill __him__ as I was supposed to do before I was cursed or I had to continue to suffer for all of eternity…_"

Kill _him_? Who was _him_? Who could be so important to kill that the shaman cursed me for not doing it? I turned my gaze to Luka and Dr. Martin, but they weren't here anymore. Elijah was. I had been too engulfed in reading about Valentina's life that I didn't even notice what happened around me.

"I don't understand, Elijah," I said. "Who was the person I didn't kill?"

"You really don't know, do you?" Elijah asked as if it was pretty obvious. "Then let me try ask you of something else. Who in this world do you know who you would die for to protect other than your family and friends?"

My eyes widened when I realized whom he was talking about. But how could that be? We hadn't even met at that time. We first met in 1714…

"So the reason to why I was cursed is because of… _Klaus_?" I asked uncomprehendingly.

Elijah nodded. "Why do you think you love him so much? Why do you think you let alone met? Your love goes way back in time. I still remember the first time you two met."

"What?" I pushed the chair back and got up, wanting so badly to scream.

Klaus and Elijah had met me before. They'd met the original… _me_. But why didn't Klaus remember me then? Or did he? What else were they hiding from me? I needed to know now!

"Calm down, Melanie," Elijah said and pulled me back to my seat. "There's more I want to tell you. I don't remember much of that time, but I do remember the exact date you met. February 14th 1224."

"February 14th. That's the date I turn 18. Well, in this life. But–"

I was interrupted by the sound of my cell phone vibrating in my pocket. I opened the text and saw that it was from Klaus. He wanted to talk with me, but I really didn't want to talk with him. He'd held important things from me, maybe even lied too, and he still wanted to sacrifice one of my friends in order to break some stupid curse.

"Go, Mel," Elijah urged. "Keep your part of the deal and just… be patient. The rest of your memories will come when the time is right."

I sighed heavily, but thanked him for helping me and handed him Valentina's diary. I didn't need it anymore, because I'd learned enough from it and from Elijah. I sent a text to Klaus and he told me to meet him a certain place in the old Lockwood property that was near the woods. I followed the written directions and tried to find this place. I was happy that he'd chosen a place where we could talk in private and without being noticed by my friends, but I wasn't that happy to talk with him.


	21. Douche Bag

**_A/N: Hiii, I've decided to update this story from Monday to Friday instead of only in the weekends, because I've put my Dexter and Hollow Kingdom fanfic on hold :)_**

**_I guess you have noticed that I'm not following the shows plot line according to the dates, but I didn't want to repeat everything that happens in the show. Though, I will be trying to keep it as much as up to date with for example the newest episodes because some of them are Klaus-related..._**

**_Anyway, enough with the info!_**

**_Here's chapter 20, I hope you like it, and please review! :D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 20:

**The Old Lockwood Property**

**Melanie's POV:**

"Klaus," I said calmly, immediately getting his full attention. He turned to me with pain glowing in his eyes and I just _knew_ then that I had hit a soft spot on him last time we talked. Bu_t _I didn't walk any closer to him and just crossed my arms, wanting to let him know that I was mad. He sighed weakly and went closer to me. He wanted to touch me, but I took a step back. "If that's even your _real_ name. You've been keeping secrets from me. You've been–"

"Trying to protect you," Klaus interrupted. "I understand you're mad at me–"

"Not you don't!" I hissed. "You don't understand anything. You don't care about me or anyone else. You only care about yourself and about what you want!"

I felt tears streaming down my cheeks and quickly wiped them away. I didn't know why I was being so emotional right now, but I just felt so hurt. I thought he loved me as much as I loved him, but he clearly didn't. He didn't even remember what I'd done for him many years ago.

"What are you talking about? Melanie, why are you so upset?" Klaus asked worriedly.

"Upset? Upset, doesn't cover what I am right now! I'm pissed! And you know why? I'm suffering because of you, Klaus. It's all your fault, but of course you don't remember, do you? No, you're too self-absorbed to remember what I did for you!" I hissed angrily.

Klaus shook his head and tried to touch me again, but I slapped him hard across his face and just ran as fast as I could away from him. I wanted to get away, away from all of this, away from… _him_. If I'd ever known that he wouldn't remember me or what I did for him, then I would never have done it.

Luckily for me, I wasn't that far away from the tomb-like cave where I saw Elijah talking with my friends, so I quickly ran to the place and hid nearby its entrance, while Klaus continued to look for me in the woods. He could search for me all that he wanted to, but I wasn't going back to him. Not until he remembered what I was talking about and knew why I was so mad at him.

"Valentina…" a weak voice said nearby.

I turned my head and it was first now that I noticed that the big rock in front of the entrance to the cave had been removed. At the entrance was a pale-looking, but very familiar girl and she was… she was hungry. I could sense her thirst and automatically hurried inside to aid her like my former past lives had done. I used a rock to cut my wrist and placed it at her mouth.

At first I couldn't put a name on her stone-like, old, and dried out face, but the more blood she got, the more I recognized her. It was Katerina Petrova. Elena's vampire doppelganger and the vampire who turned the Salvatore brothers.

"Katerina!" I exclaimed and tried to help her to sit up properly. She looked so weak and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get her out of the cave. She was trapped. "What happened to you?"

Katerina – or _Katherine_ as she preferred now – finally let go of my wrist and wiped the blood of her mouth with the back of her hand. She had gotten enough energy to talk, but I knew that she needed more blood before she was fully restored.

"Oh, I was just trapped in a tomb by the two vampires I used to mess around with, so… nothing much. You?" Katherine said sarcastically.

I smiled weakly. A part of me had missed Katherine. I still remembered the day I found her and let her stay at my home in 1622. But I also remembered how miserable I was and how I died only a few weeks after she left and therefore I pushed the memories away again.

"I just slapped my almost-boyfriend/former fiancé, so… nothing much either," I said and sat down next to her. Katherine looked confusedly at me. "It's a long story. One you don't want to be involved in. But I'm glad I found you. I mean, you did know one of my past lives…"

"She's not the only one," someone said near us. Damon. Why did he always show up? And why now and right here? "Melanie, I reeeaally think you should step out of the tomb before she drinks all of your blood."

"Is that so?" I asked angrily, crossing my arms stubbornly and glaring at him.

I was mad at every man in the world right now, so if he knew better he wouldn't try to piss me off more than I already was.

"Go away, Damon. She's one pissed reincarnation you don't want to mess with right now," Katherine said, smirking teasingly. This seemed to both annoy and worry Damon, but he didn't leave. "Besides, Melanie and I are friends, right Mel?"

Valentina made me nod, because she too hated men. But Damon just rolled his eyes of us and turned his head to Stefan and Elena, who was here too.

"Mel, don't listen to her," Elena said. "You can't trust her. You need to get out of there right now."

I looked at Katherine and sighed. I knew Elena was partly right. I did need to get out of there, because I couldn't hide from Klaus forever. Eventually, he would find me and hopefully, it was first until a werewolf would try to kill me once again. So I got up and went back to Damon who gave me some of his blood to heal the wound on my wrist.

**The Salvatore Boarding House**

**Damon's POV:**

"What's wrong, Mel?" Elena asked worriedly and handed her a cup of newly made tea. "You've been so angry all day…"

Angry didn't cover the emotion I saw in her eyes when she glared at me. She was furious and maybe a little heart-broken too. I guessed that she and _Lukas_ had had a fight, which really didn't surprise me since that douche bag had been acting so weird around her.

"It's complicated," Melanie said though, confirming my suspicion. This was defiantly about Lukas and she was defiantly not pleased about it. "It's just… I read a diary that belonged to my past life Valentina Konstantinov and… I know why I was cursed."

"And?" I asked impatiently. Why was she making such a big deal about this? Why run crying around in the woods and visiting Katherine? "C'mon, Blondie. We don't have all day!"

Melanie rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. Something was really bothering her and it was heart-aching for her to even think about it.

"Well… Damon, do you remember that time where I told you that one of my past lives fell in love with Klaus?" she asked.

I nodded. I remembered too well how she lied to us and kept such a big secret from us. But I also remembered what Elijah told us – about Klaus falling in love with her past life Fleurette and how he loved her more than anything, which I found really hard to believe since he _was_ the most evil and coldhearted vampire that had ever put his feet on this ground.

"Apparently, I've met Klaus before," Melanie said, clenching her fists and jaw angrily. "I was told by a shaman to kill Klaus in the 13th century and I… well, as you can see, I didn't and for that I was cursed. But that's not what really pisses me off. What pisses me off is that Klaus–"

Melanie stopped herself for some reason and shook her head. She was hiding something. Something about Klaus, maybe?

"Well, let's just say that I've heard that he didn't even remember the _original_ me or what I did for him!"

"So you fell in love with him _twice_?" Elena asked dumbstruck.

Melanie nodded hesitantly. She looked like she felt really ashamed of it and maybe even mad at herself for being so naïve.

"Do you remember anything else? Like how to _break_ your curse?" Stefan asked worriedly.

Melanie was about to answer, but she shook her head. Though, I had a feeling that she wasn't telling the whole truth… again. She was hiding something – I just knew it!

"It's okay, Mel. I know how to cheer you up again," Elena said in her goody-goody voice. I rolled my eyes. "Tonight we're gonna forget all about anything supernatural and just have a movie night – only for us girls. I'll call Bonnie and Caroline and then we should be all set."

Surprisingly, Melanie was actually up for that idea, which meant that Stefan and I had to wait until tomorrow before we could do anything-well, until _Stefan_ could do anything. I was going to find out what she was hiding from us no matter what. I just… had to go rogue for a little while.

**Mystic Falls**

**Melanie's POV:**

"Thanks, girls! I can't say how happy I am to have so kind friends like you are," I said thankfully, leaning back in my couch. Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline smiled, while Shawn, who sadly didn't have anything else to do tonight, just rolled his eyes. "So… what are we going to watch tonight? Something bloody and violent or–"

"Maybe not something bloody," Caroline said, referring to her lust for blood. I knew that she was a vampire too and therefore I just nodded and looked at the other movies I'd taken from both mine and Shawn's collection of DVDs. "Hey, what about this one?"

I looked at the title and couldn't help but laugh. It was Lola's favorite movie. The funny thing about it was that Caroline and Lola were each other's complete opposite. But I missed watching _10 Things I Hate About You_ withLola and therefore I agreed to watch it. Elena and Bonnie didn't have any complaints either, because who wouldn't watch a smoking hot and young Heath Ledger?

"A chick flick? There's no way in hell I'm staying to watch a chick flick and listen to you swoon over Heath Ledger!" Shawn said and made his way to the entrance to get his jacket.

"Where are you going, bro?" I asked teasingly.

"To the grill," he answered, but he didn't leave just yet. "Oh, and Mel?"

"Yes?" I said curiously.

Shawn smirked. "If you invite _any_ boys over, then _you –_ my dear little sister – are screwed."

I flipped him off and just pressed the play button. Boys were the last thing I wanted to invite inside and especially Klaus. He deserved to suffer for a while for making me suffer the last 786 years. But right now I didn't want to think about him or any of my other problems. I wanted a completely normal movie night with three of my girlfriends and I could sense that they needed a normal night too. I didn't blame them. Elena _was_ a doppelganger; Bonnie _was_ a witch, and Caroline _was_ a vampire.


	22. The Truth

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 21! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! _**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 21:

**Mystic Falls, November 7 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

It was quiet. Almost too quiet. It was a silly cliché, but it fitted the situation very well. I almost couldn't hear the sound of my friends sleeping, because they were all sleeping so quietly and soundly. I didn't bother to wake them up and just snuck as quiet as I could out to the kitchen where I noticed Shawn in his boxers and a grey t-shirt. He was getting himself a glass of milk and tried not to be too noisy when he had four teenage girls lying in his living room.

Though, one of them was awake now and couldn't fall asleep again. I dreamt about Klaus tonight and now I couldn't get him out of my head. I simply loved him too much to let him go – especially when I knew that he needed my guidance. No, he needed my _love_.

"I'm glad to see that you've gotten some friends, but… you don't look that happy," Shawn whispered worriedly. "Is something wrong?"

I shook my head. Shawn wouldn't understand even if I told him what was going on. He would freak out, maybe even get a heart attack, and then I would be all alone again. I'd had other siblings before in my other former lives and I remembered losing them too in an early age. Shawn avoided being killed by sending me to live with our aunt in England, so of course I didn't want to lose him now.

"Fine, if you don't want to talk about your problems, then I'll tell you about mine," Shawn took a sip of his milk and sighed weakly. "I… broke up with Jules."

My eyes widened. "Wait-what?" I almost exclaimed and quickly lowered my voice. I didn't expect this to happen at all! "When? Why?"

Shawn shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "Yesterday. I did like her a lot and the sex…"

I glared at Shawn, but he just snickered a bit and tried again. "It just didn't work out. We had a good time, but I want my little sister to truly like my girlfriend. And she shouldn't be as secretive as Jules was. I mean, seriously. One night she just left in the middle of the night and didn't bother to leave a note or a message on my answering machine. That's just weird!"

Of course I was happy to hear that Shawn had broken up with Jules, but I didn't want him to do it if he really did love her.

"I better get to bed and you should too," Shawn drank the last of his milk and gave me a hug; because he probably knew that I was worried about something. I did need a hug though and almost cried. He was my big brother and supposed to protect me from bad things, but he could only protect me from normal things. "Goodnight, sis. Sleep tight."

After Shawn had gone back to his bedroom, I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see that Elena was awake too. She handed me a tissue to dry the tears in my eyes away and just stayed with me for a moment without saying a word. Maybe she knew how I felt. Yes, of course she knew. She wasn't allowed to tell her aunt about anything supernatural either and she was only doing it to protect her aunt. I should do this to protect my brother too.

"It's Lukas whose been bothering you lately, isn't it?" Elena finally asked.

I nodded. I didn't want to lie to her anymore. I had to protect her from Klaus like she was protecting everyone she loved from him and anyone else who wanted to hurt her friends and family.

"Did he break up with you or…?"

"No, it's… Elena, if I have to tell you this, then you need to promise me that you won't tell _anyone_ about it. Not even Stefan." I said.

Elena nodded, giving me her word that she wouldn't say anything and I took a deep breath before I continued. I was about to break the promise I gave to Klaus.

"Lukas is… He's _Klaus_," I confessed hesitantly and saw how Elena's face turned pale. She was about to exclaim something, so I quickly covered her mouth and shushed at her. "I'm so sorry Elena. I know you can't possibly understand, but-but I love him. I've always loved him. And the reason why I didn't say anything was that I hoped that I could convince Klaus to stop that horrible plan of his. I do love him, but if he tries to hurt you or anyone else, I-I…"

I shook my head and felt the tears stream down my cheeks again. I wanted to cry so badly, but I didn't want to wake the others up. But Elena could see how pained I was and instead of scolding me, I felt her arms around me. She understood that I didn't want to do this.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Caroline said though.

I looked at Elena and she looked at me. She was wondering whether she should keep her word and not tell anyone what I said or tell Caroline the truth. Luckily, she chose to do the first thing and just said that I had some problems with _Lukas_ and not Klaus. Bonnie soon joined us too and we ended up sitting in the living room for almost two hours, just talking about the problems they once had and how they dealt with them.

I finally fell asleep that night, but it wasn't soundly. I kept dreaming about Klaus and dreamt that he wanted to talk with me so badly. He wanted me to go outside, just for a moment, but I refused and screamed at him, telling him to stay away from me. I knew it was just a dream, but it was so… vivid and real. It was like he was in my dreams or controlling them.

It hurt so much to ignore him – even if it was only in a dream – and I hated it. I didn't want to be mad at the man I loved. I didn't want to… _hate_ him.

**Klaus's POV:**

Melanie. My sweet, sweet Melanie. Why won't you let me talk with you? I only need a couple of minutes. I just… need to see you smile. I…. This was all _their_ fault. Elijah, Damon, Stefan, Katherine, Elena… It was all their fault. They turned my fiancée against me and for that they were going to pay. But first I needed to talk with Melanie alone. I needed to take her away from all of this.

Therefore, I sneaked inside the house while the four girls were asleep and quietly crept closer to the sleeping Melanie. She was still trying to ignore my message and probably thought that she was just dreaming. I knew that I could easily take Elena right now and make sure that I had her, but I couldn't afford to lose Melanie. Not after what she did for me.

Many had tried to kill me over the last hundreds of years and when I visited Scandinavia, I remembered meeting a young girl, who worked as a maid for the Danish king. One night when I was outside on my balcony to get some fresh air, I saw her standing nearby in the courtyard arguing with someone about something she didn't want to do.

I remembered seeing her earlier that day and the days before, and I knew that she had a crush on me. Every time I was nearby or when I talked with her, her heartbeat would go faster and her cheeks would become red. I didn't mind it at that time, because I thought she was just another naïve and very curious girl, who found me charming. Heck, sometimes I even found her very lovable and played around with her in the courtyard or took her to the market…

But later that week she was found killed in the woods. No one knew who did it, but they thought it was a vicious animal, because she was completely torn apart. If I remembered correctly, then she died only a day before her 18th birthday.

Sadly, I was too focused on other things to remember a girl like her. Now I had to pay for it. But I shook the thoughts and memories away and tried focusing on getting Melanie safely and quietly out of this house. Unfortunately, her dear brother woke up again and not only did he wake up the blonde vampire, but he also ruined my opportunity to get some time alone with Melanie.

However, I didn't leave her home empty-handed. I wrote a note and hid it under the vase where her white roses were; knowingly that she would find it someday. But before I truly left I quickly gave her a kiss on her forehead and just hoped that she would learn to forgive me.

Of course I hated feeling like this. Melanie was my one weakness and it drove me insane. How could a 17-year-old girl like her make a… _creature_ like me feel this way? I knew that your emotions were enhanced when you became a vampire, but for hundreds of years I'd learned how to control my emotions. I'd learn to push them away, but whenever _she_ was around I just couldn't do it.

That was why I had to do this. I had to hide her from the world and make sure that no one _ever_ hurt or put his or hers hand on her again. Maybe it was a good time for me to turn her. It couldn't harm her, could it? She wouldn't have to die then and could live on forever with me…

**Damon's POV:**

I couldn't believe it. She was in love with_ Klaus_? What was wrong with her? How stupid could you get to fall in love with the oldest and most psychotic vampire alive? It was a good thing that I chose to go rogue and to spy on Melanie _and_ that I had that talk with Shawn at the Mystic Grill, because now I knew why she lied to us. I wanted to scold her so badly and make her realize what a huge mistake she was taking by falling for a guy like Klaus, but then again… I fell in love with Katherine.

No, this was much worse than what I did. I needed to knock some sense into her head and find out which side she was on.

But first I needed to find out who that man, who just left her home, was. He didn't look familiar, but even with my enhanced senses I wasn't able to see his face properly in the dark. I tried to follow him to wherever he was going to, but he suddenly disappeared faster than I could blink. _If_ that man was Klaus and he had been invited into Melanie's home, then we were screwed.

I needed to have a word with Bonnie later and ask her if she could block any vampire from entering her home. Until then I could only go home to Saint Stefan and think about what I was supposed to say to Melanie. She was my friend and I actually cared about her, but I felt like she was betraying us – betraying me. Why couldn't she see that she was putting herself and her friends in danger?

"You look like you could need a drink," Stefan said as soon as I stepped inside our home. I looked at the old grandfather clock in the living room and saw that it was almost 4:00 AM. Why was he even up at this time? "You spied on them, didn't you?"

"I did not," I said, smirking smugly and poured up a glass of scotch. I seriously did need a drink and I needed it _now_! "But I did see and hear a couple of interesting things… It seems that our little seeress has lied to us more than once."

Stefan frowned and quickly approached me, wanting to know more now. "What do you mean?"

I took a big slurp of my scotch and poured up more in my glass. "Her boyfriend Lukas is Klaus and she's in love with him too."

I watched as Stefan's eyes widened in utter shock of what he just heard. He couldn't comprehend news like that, but it was very true and a very serious matter. Melanie needed help before she got herself killed again and I was going to give her it whether she liked it or not.

"I can't… I can't believe that she would keep such a secret from us," Stefan said and sat down on the couch. "Does Elena know this?"

I nodded. "She told it to Elena, but… it was supposed to be a secret. Whoops! I guess it's not that much of a secret anymore," I said and took a sip of the scotch. Stefan glared at me. He couldn't understand how I could make fun of something like that. "Don't worry, Stefan. I'll talk with her."


	23. Kidnapped

**_A/N: Hi, so... no reviews? *sad face*_**

**_Oh, well... I'll give you chapter 22 anyway! ;)_**

**_Here it is, but I better warn those of you who haven't watched the episode "Klaus", because there will be spoilers._**

**_But I hope you like it and please review :D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 22:

**Mystic Falls**

**Melanie's POV:**

The first thing I noticed early in the morning was the note under the vase in my bedroom. I recognized the handwriting and couldn't help but feel guilty about what I did last night. I told Elena the truth about who Lukas really was and Klaus was going to hate me if he ever found out what I'd done. I tried shaking my thoughts away and just sat down on my bed reading the note.

_Mel, I love you more than __anything__ in this world. Remember that._

I wondered if Klaus had remembered how we first met or if he still remained clueless. I wanted him so badly to chose me over his thirst for revenge, because nothing good was going to come out of revenge. Maybe I needed to talk with him instead of ignoring him like this. Yeah, I _had_ to talk with him, but… how? Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline were still here, and I couldn't just tell Elena that I needed to talk with her number 1 enemy.

I began looking for my cell phone and noticed that Klaus had called me several times and left a couple of text messages. I deleted the messages, because I already knew what he had written. Instead I wrote a text to him saying that we needed to talk, but that I couldn't talk right now.

"Texting with Mr. Bad Romance?" Caroline asked, making my heart jump a bit.

I quickly turned around and saw Caroline in her pjs and a newly made cup of coffee. I blushed, but nodded and went back to the others with her.

"You know, I really think that you should dump him," she said. "I mean, you deserve someone who doesn't turns up whenever he wants to and who try to buy his way to your love."

"I'm sorry, but she's right, Mel," Bonnie said. I looked over at Elena, who had a worried look on her face, and sighed. "Or… you could try giving him one last chance and tell him to come to dinner like you planned to do last Friday."

That would be very stupid. Klaus would be exposed, Elena would probably be in danger, and I would be forced to betray either the one I loved or the ones I cared for.

"I'll try asking, but if he doesn't want to, then… I'll talk with him about our relationship," I said hesitantly. "But thanks for having a girl night with me. It was really great."

I smiled and we all hugged each other in one big group hug before we went to the kitchen and began making breakfast. We also made breakfast to Shawn now that he had survived a whole night with four annoying teenage girls in his house. Of course he was happy to be spoiled, but we left him to clean all the dishes later, because Elena and I had to go to the grill for some reason (Stefan texted Elena and told us to come).

We arrived around 12:00 and saw that the guys were over at the pool table waiting for us. They'd already ordered dinner to us, so we just sat down at a table nearby and waited for the dinner to come. I noticed that Damon was staring awfully a lot at me today and looked rather annoyed even though he forgave me for lying. I feared that he knew what I'd said to Elena, but I also knew that Elena couldn't possibly have told them anything.

But luckily my attention was turned to my cell phone when it vibrated in my pocket. I quickly yanked it up and saw that it was from Klaus.

"Klaus again, huh?" Damon asked with venom in his voice.

My face turned pale and I looked up at him to see him smirking at me. He looked pissed. I quickly looked at Elena, but she raised her hands and said that she hadn't said anything.

"So you _are_ in love with him," Damon said and snorted. "Exactly _when_ did you plan on telling us that Lukas is Klaus and that you're in love with him?"

Shit, shit, shit, shit, and double shit! I was screwed! What the hell was I supposed to say now? I opened my mouth and tried to speak, but no words came out. I tried to leave, but Damon grabbed my arm. Luckily for me, Elijah appeared and removed Damon's hand from my arm. It seemed as Elijah was much stronger than Damon, because he easily got the hand away.

I didn't want to stay so I used this opportunity to leave the Mystic Grill and ran as fast as I could to the school where Klaus wanted to talk with me. I made sure that none of them were following me, because I knew that Klaus would become more pissed if he knew that not only did my friends know that I loved him, but that I had also lured them straight to him.

However, when I finally arrived at the school's parking lot where Klaus was, he signed for me to hurry in to his car and I did without questioning him. I didn't know where he was planning to take me, but we were defiantly not staying in Mystic Falls. I guessed that he was just taking me to the outskirts of the town, to the place where we had our first real date. But Klaus kept on driving and locked the doors when he noticed that I'd realized that where we were going.

"What are you doing? Where are we going?" I asked worriedly.

Klaus didn't answer. He kept his eyes on the road and just turned the radio on to fill out the silence between us.

"Klaus!" I cried and felt that my heart was beginning to race.

This time he reacted though. He yanked my necklace off, pulled me close to him, and stared me deep into my eyes as he spoke "Sit still, be quiet, and… don't hate me for doing this."

**Klaus's POV:**

I never wanted this to happen so soon. I didn't want to take all of Melanie's humanity away and make her a creature of the night like I was. But I knew that I needed to do this. I had to save her before she died and before I lost her again. I couldn't wait for another century, I couldn't wait for her new life to remember everything we felt for each other, and I defiantly couldn't risk that she would go and fall in love with someone else before I found her in another country.

Therefore, I took Melanie to an old and abandoned mansion far away from Mystic Falls where I'd found the decapitated body of a fellow vampire, who seemed to have died there a couple of weeks or maybe a month ago.

"Things have really changed, my dear Fleurette…" I mumbled and parked the car. I looked at my watch. It was 1:22 PM, so it had taken a little over an hour to drive to this place and left us with enough time to flee in case her friends followed her. "Follow me."

Melanie did as I told her to, but she didn't have any other choice. She was under my compulsion until I gave her her necklace back. I escorted Melanie in to our temporary home and told her to sit down on the couch. It was so… odd to see her like this.

So quiet and so sad…

She was just sitting there like a doll and staring at me with her beautiful blue eyes. I couldn't take it and quickly put on her necklace again. She woke up from the trance-like state she had been in and looked at me with worried eyes instead.

"Klaus? Where are we?" she asked anxiously and looked confusedly around.

"Somewhere safe," I said and sat down next to her. She didn't know whether to run away or to cry and just sat there staring at me with fear in her eyes. "I compelled your brother to think that you were staying at some of your friends for a couple of days."

"And why on earth would you do such a thing?" Melanie hissed.

"You know why," I simply said and looked at her. "Damon and Elijah have been spying on you the last couple of days. I can't have that they find out where I am – especially not Elijah."

"But they already know that you're Lukas! They'll think that you kidnapped me and–"

"I _didn't_ kidnap you!" I hissed angrily.

Melanie didn't say anything. She was obviously mad at me, but I didn't care. I had other things to worry about. I needed to know if Elijah had talked with her, told her the whole truth about why I wanted Elena's blood, and maybe even revealed how well he actually knew me. I knew that Elijah would do everything possible to get to me. He would even kill Melanie if it was what was going to take.

"Klaus, why are you keeping me here?" Melanie finally asked.

She sounded frightened and reminded me of the time when I scolded Fleurette for leaving my home with Elijah without my permission. I'd sworn that I would never frighten her again, but it seemed that I'd failed to keep my promise.

"I just… I just want you to be safe. From Elijah, the Salvatore brothers, and especially the werewolves… I never meant to harm or frighten you in any way. You know that."

Melanie nodded and crept closer to me. She forced me to look into her eyes and cupped my face with in her soft palms. I couldn't help but smile a bit. I loved her so much – more than I'd ever loved anyone else before and I… I wanted her to be a part of my real plan. But she couldn't be a part of the plan until I'd broken the curse.

"Klaus, please _listen_ to me for once in your life," she begged. "If you really do love me as much as you say so, then _forget_ about breaking the curse! Please… I'm begging you. If you lift the curse and let every vampire in the world walk around freely, then–"

"Melanie, that's _not_ what I want to do," I interrupted and saw the confusion in her face. "I'm not interested in lifting the curse of the sun and the moon. And you really want to know why?"

Of course Melanie nodded. She couldn't understand what the hell I was talking about right now. I removed her hands from my face and cupped her face instead before I continued.

"The curse doesn't exist. It's made up."

Now Melanie understood absolutely nothing. "Then _why_ do you want Elena's blood?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but I heard her cell phone vibrate and quickly took it before she could. Damon had called her at least five times and Elena had called double as much. Melanie tried to get her cell phone back, but I disappeared from the couch in a blur and just moved to the corner of the big living room.

"Give it to me!" Melanie yelled.

I smirked. "No way! You have to come get it yourself… that is if you can catch me." I teased.

Melanie quickly got up and ran towards me, trying her best to get her precious cell phone back. She was pissed at me for lying, for keeping her here, and for making her chose between me and her friends. She even tried to hit me out of frustration of everything that was going on lately, but I quickly stopped her and pinned her to the wall instead, holding her arms steady to make her calm down.

I wanted to kiss her so badly and feel her soft lips against mine. And that was what I did. I pressed my lips against hers and made her forget everything she hated about me. She didn't protest, but just kissed me passionately and melted in my embrace, wanting to feel more of me.


	24. Frída

**_A/N: Hiii! this is the week's last chapter! :)_**

**_Thanks for reviewing, subscribing, etc... 8D_**

**_Oh, and again here's a little spoiler alert for those of you who haven't watched the episode Klaus._**

**_I hope you like it and please review!_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 23:

**Melanie's POV:**

We kissed passionately for a long time and couldn't let go of each other. I wanted to enjoy every moment of this and forget what Klaus had put me through, but I knew that I couldn't keep this up. I couldn't handle being in a relationship like this. I didn't want him_ sometimes_. I wanted all of him the whole time and needed someone who would always be there for me.

Therefore, I stopped kissing Klaus and looked away with tears in my eyes. He looked carefully at my face as if he was trying to figure out what was paining me so he could help me.

"Why is it so hard for you to choose me over those humans?" he asked angrily.

I glared at him. "Because, Klaus," I answered. "I'm a _human_. I _care_ about people. I _don't_ think only on myself and on what I want like you do. You're _selfish_, Klaus. And that is why I choose my friends over _you_!"

Klaus stumbled backwards and looked at me blankly. It felt like I'd just killed him or pierced his heart with a knife. For a moment I thought that he was going to kill me. He didn't say any words at all, but just stood there and looked at me. I took a deep breath to calm myself and my racing heart down, but I was too scared of what he might do to me.

But Klaus just took out a very familiar ring that I once gave him and handed it to me. "Goodbye, Melanie…"

I looked down at the beautiful Lapis Lazuli ring and when I looked toward his direction, I saw that he was gone. I sighed heavily and as I sighed, I glided down the wall and just sat down on the dusty floor.

What had I done?

I'd just broken the heart of the oldest vampire alive. I would like to say that he deserved it, but no person – human or supernatural being – deserved to have his or hers heart, broken. Though, I would never take it back even if I had the power to do so. He needed to know that I wasn't like him and to see what he had become. This Klaus wasn't the Klaus I remembered from neither Fleurette's life nor my original life. This Klaus was evil, manipulative, obsessed, and selfish.

"Melanie," a familiar voice said. I didn't need to look up to know who that was. It was Elijah. Good, old Elijah. Always loyal and there. I sighed again, feeling so horrible right now. "You did the right thing."

I snorted. "Is that so?" I asked sarcastically and stood up. Tears were streaming down my cheeks like the day I broke my leg in the woods. "Who says that this is the right thing to do? Who decides that I have to choose between…" I shook my head and just cried.

I wanted the old Klaus back. The one I loved more than anything. The one I sacrificed my life for…

**Denmark, February 14 1224**

**Elijah's POV:**

_At last we had arrived to the great kingdom where proud and barbaric Vikings once ruled. Klaus had always been very fascinated of them and their way of living. He was mostly fascinated of how they went abroad, conquered one country after another, and became more powerful than ever. Of course the era of the Vikings was done and the people were more civilized now. _

_We were supposed to meet with King __Valdemar the Victorious, but he had some business to attend today. However, in the meanwhile we were allowed to live in his castle and free to explore its many rooms or – if we cared for it – we could go to the market and have a better look of the eastern Jutland. Klaus was not interested in exploring, but rather wanted to meet the local shaman he had heard so much about. _

_The shaman, who was simply known as a Medicine man here, was rumored to hide in the king's own castle, working as a servant to cover up what he really was. It would take a while to find him, but it did not matter to either of us. There were plenty of humans in the streets to feed off and many of them would not be missed anyway. _

"_Look at that, my brother! What a castle the king has!" Klaus said smiling brightly._

_I nodded agreeing. The castle was in fact very beautiful and probably one of Denmark's finest Baroque buildings. It was fairly new, but the king had many workers who took care of not only the castle, but also of the fine Baroque garden. As the carriage finally stopped in the big courtyard, we were kindly greeted by the king's maids and one of them in particular seemed to have caught the eye of my promiscuous brother._

_The maid had long, braided, and almost white-blonde hair, curious deep-blue eyes, she had a beautiful fair complexion, and she looked about 17 or maybe 18 years old. Klaus immediately greeted her as he stepped out of the carriage and I overheard that her name was __Frída. He kissed her hand and smiled charmingly, making the young girl's heart flutter. But I noticed that she suddenly yanked her hand back and her face turned pale as if she had just witnessed something horrible. It was like she had seen a vision._

"_Welcome to Clausholm Castle, my lords. I am Miss Heindric," the oldest of the maids said. She was the head house maid and spoke in English with a German accent. I reckoned that the other maids did not speak English, but they did speak a bit German and – of course their native language – Danish. "Frída and Sigrid will take your… luggage to your bedchambers. Please follow me, my lords, and I will show you around."_

"_Oh, that will not be necessary Miss Heindric," Klaus said surprisingly, his curious eyes still locked on Frída. I recognized the look on his face. He wanted a taste of her blood and most likely wanted to take her virginity too. That was how he was. Always wanting to have some enjoyment whilst we tried to break the curse. "Just take us to our bedchambers if you kindly will."_

_Miss Heindric nodded understandingly and told three of the five young maids to carry our luggage to our bedchambers, whilst she and the fifth maid – Frída – showed us the way to the chambers. The bedchambers were too decorated in a beautiful Baroque style and it smelled pleasantly of fresh roses. As soon as Miss Heindric and Frída had left, I turned my attention to Klaus who was still gazing after Frída in the doorway._

"_Brother, remember you must remember why we are here." I said firmly, finally catching his full attention. _

"_I know, dear brother," Klaus said sighing. "But you must admit that she __is__ a beauty."_

_I chuckled, but nodded. I knew that Klaus had always had a thing for girls with blonde or flaxen hair. "Be careful though. You know what a girl can make a man do for love."_

_Klaus nodded and I left his bedroom to go to mine that was placed right next to his. I noticed Frída standing at the end of the corridor, watering the flowers and looking shyly at our direction. She quickly looked away when she saw that I looked at her and went downstairs to water the other flowers._

_I decided to follow her, whilst Klaus was unpacking his things, and wanted to make sure that what I saw today when they touched was caused by the fact that she knew what we were or not. I found her watering some white roses in the living room and carefully crept to her side, avoiding any physical contact at first to be safe. _

"_Good evening, Frída," I said kindly and caught her attention. She turned to me and smiled in a way that could lighten up a whole room. I found myself staring maybe a bit too long. I clearly understood what Klaus saw in her and wondered if I was beginning to fall for her too. "I see that the castle has many flowers… do you know if it has vervain?"_

_I was afraid that Frída was one of those girls who did not understand English, but she seemed to understand me and nodded. _

"_We have vervain in the garden," she said with a Danish accent. "But the king does not want us to pluck them. They are very expensive and were given to him by a good friend of his."_

"_I see…" I leaned closer to her and looked deeply into her eyes. "Tell me what happened when you touched my brother."_

"_I had a vision…" Frída said, because she was now under my compulsion. "I saw Klaus turn into…" _

_Suddenly, a horrified look appeared in her eyes. Whatever she had seen must have been very frightening. But she took a deep breath and continued. "He turned into a monster."_

_A monster? A blood-drinking monster? Or something much worse? _

_Before I could ask Frída of what she saw, she suddenly began blushing and her heart was beating very fast. I turned around to see my brother at the doorway, smiling charmingly to the young maid in front of me. _

"_Pardon me for interrupting your conversation, but Frída could you please come and help me with something?" Klaus asked flirtatiously._

_Frída's cheeks became flushed and she looked shyly away, but she nodded and followed Klaus's lead._

**Mystic Falls**

**Melanie's POV:**

"Are you going to tell me how you found me?" I asked, my eyes still locked on the road.

We'd been driving for about an hour so it wouldn't be long before I was at home again. We hadn't talked much on the way home, because I didn't feel like talking. I missed Klaus and dearly hoped that he understood what I said instead of thinking that I didn't love him as much as he loved me.

"Dr. Martin tracked you down," Elijah simply said. "How much did Klaus tell you about the curse he wants to break?"

I looked confusedly at Elijah, but guessed that he had overheard some of our conversation and thought back on what Klaus had told me. The curse of the sun and moon didn't exist. He'd lied to me about it to cover up something else he wanted to do.

"He just said that the curse of the sun and moon is made up," I said. "Why do you ask? Do you know what he really wants?"

Elijah smiled weakly. "Yes, I do. But if I tell you the truth about Klaus, then you need to promise me that you won't say anything to anyone. Not yet anyway."

"I promise I won't tell anything." I said.

Elijah sighed as if something was bothering him and he turned his head to me after parking his car a block away from my home where Stefan or other vampires nearby my home couldn't overhear us.

"Klaus and I… we're brothers," he told me and of course my eyes widened in shock. I didn't see that coming at all, but it did trigger something in my mind. Something about… two fine lords. "To make a long story short, then we made up the legend about the curse and the moon to help us find the Petrova doppelganger."

"But-but-but I've been told that you're the Easter Bunny compared to Klaus!" I stammered, unable to comprehend what he was saying to me.

Elijah sighed again and nodded. "I am. Our mother was unfaithful to _my_ father with a werewolf, which means that Klaus is a hybrid. A dangerous one in fact. However, a curse was cast upon him so he can't turn into a werewolf. He wants to turn into a werewolf though, because if he does then no one will be able to stop him."

Oh my God! That's-that's horrible! I couldn't let that happen. Klaus wouldn't be able to control that much power. I'd seen how power had driven him into a mad man and knew that he would lose everything that was good in him if he succeeded in his plan. I needed to find Klaus, to let him know of the consequences if he did this, and try to show him that he didn't _need_ to do this to be happy.


	25. Anna Dimitrova

_**A/N: Hi, here's chapter 24! :)**_

_**I hope you like it and please review! :D**_

_**xoxo Ascha**_

Chapter 24:

**Mystic Falls, December 18 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

Weeks had passed by since my breakup with Klaus and I'd spent the last many nights thinking about where Klaus was. We hadn't heard anything from him and even Elijah couldn't find him anywhere nearby Mystic Falls.

But I'd had a lot of time to find out more about my past lives and I'd unlocked another one of my past lives. Her name was Anna Dimitrova and she was a very rich girl who lived in the 16th century Bulgaria. This explained why I understood Katherine when she visited me in Russia in 1622. I'd talked a lot with Katherine and after Elijah suddenly disappeared and she was released for some reason, we'd been trying to unlock more of my past.

All day we'd been at my home reading through some of the very old and fragile diaries, but time had really ruined them and therefore it was really difficult. However, I didn't know how else we were supposed to unlock my old memories and if they were the key to helping Klaus, then I was going to try whatever I could possibly to read them.

"I think I've found something," Katherine said and handed me the diary of Anna Dimitrova. My Bulgarian was a little bit rusty so she had read it for me and told me about my life in the big mansion my rich grandparents owned. "Around the last couple of days in your life, you keep mentioning something about a good friend of yours named Vladimir. You gave him a heart-shaped locket with an inscription inside it. You think it's the same Vladimir you lived with in 1622?"

"Maybe… but I have no clue of where he is or if he's even alive…" I said.

"Yeah, but you do tell something else that might be a clue."

Katherine showed me a page where Vladimir had written down a spell of some sort that could help me find him if I ever needed his help.

But I had also written that he had told me that I would need a witch to make it work. I _could _ask Bonnie to help me, but she might still be grieving over Luka's sudden death. I hadn't been told much about what exactly happened to him, but I didn't want to be involved in it anyway. I had my own problems to worry about.

"Mel! I'm home!" Shawn yelled from the entrance.

Katherine looked at me immediately with a raised eyebrow and it didn't take long for me to figure out what she was thinking.

"Do not get involved with my brother," I whispered. "If you do I'm gonna have to kill you."

Katherine snickered and just rolled her eyes of me. But Shawn didn't seem to notice that the girl in our living room wasn't Elena, but her Bulgarian vampire doppelganger.

"Hi, Mel! Hi, Elena! What are you doing? More girly stuff?" Shawn asked teasingly.

He grabbed Fleurette's diary and looked curiously at it, but luckily he didn't know French and just became confused. I quickly took it back and gave him a smack in his face with it.

"What the hell? What was _that_ for?" he exclaimed.

"You just got facebooked!" I said laughing, which made Shawn shake his head of me and go to the kitchen.

"Nicely saved," Katherine said snickering and was about to say something when the doorbell suddenly rang. She got up and went out to the door finding Damon there with a smug grin on his face. I had nothing to say to Damon and had either been ignoring or giving him the cold shoulder the last many weeks. I was mad at him for not understanding that Klaus was actually capable of being in love and that me being in love with Klaus wasn't a bad thing. "Hello, Damon… If I remember correctly, then you still haven't been invited in to Melanie's house. Am I right?"

I knew that Katherine loved to annoy Damon and he loved annoying her too, but right now I was happy that she reminded him of that he couldn't get inside my home.

"I don't need to be invited in to talk with her," Damon said smugly. "Or I could just ask Shawn. We've become good friends, you know. And the house _does_ belong to him too."

This made me react. I quickly got up and hurried to the door, pushing Damon outside on the porch withme where we could talk in-well, it wasn't exactly in private since Katherine could hear us from the living room, but at least Shawn couldn't hear us.

"What do you want, Damon? Are you here to scold me again?" I asked angrily with crossed arms.

Damon smirked a bit, but sighed and looked around in the snow-covered neighborhood. It was freezing cold outside so if I came down with the flu, then I would blame him.

"Can we please go for a short walk?" he asked. "This is none of Miss Bitchy's business."

I nodded, grabbed my coat, and told Shawn that I would be back in five minutes before I left my home and followed Damon's lead. He waited until we were at least two blocks away before he stopped and turned to me.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

I looked confusedly at him. He didn't care about my feelings or if I was happy so why ask in the first place? I seriously wanted to hit him, but I knew that he wouldn't feel a thing anyway.

"I'm fantastic, Damon! Absolutely _fan-fucking-tastic_! How do you think I'm doing?" I said sarcastically.

Damon snorted and cursed a bit under his breath. He wanted to bicker with me again, but somehow managed to restrain himself from doing it. I on the other hand, couldn't restrain myself from becoming mad at him once again.

"If you seriously think that I–"

All of a sudden Damon kissed me, stopping me mid-sentence and I was too shocked to do anything, but stare at him with widened eyes. He pulled away though and looked at me, searching for any reaction at all in my face.

"I _know_ you love him, I do, but I _care_ about you a lot and don't want to see you get hurt. I want you to consider that Klaus might not be the one for you. Trust me, I should know. I spent over a century, convinced that Katherine and I were meant for each other." Damon said.

I understood what he said and knew that there might be a possibility that he was right about my feelings to Klaus. I did love Klaus, but I didn't love what he had become and missed his old self. What if the Klaus I met in 1224 was gone forever? What if I couldn't help him?

"Damon, I know that you might be right, but… I want to be sure before I make a choice. I've seen Klaus's good sides. I've seen… I've seen him in love. He could have left me in France when my adoptive parents died too or killed me, but he didn't. He took me to his home, took care of me, and… he proposed to me. And you know what I felt when he asked me to marry him?" I asked.

Damon sighed heavily. He seemed a bit frustrated with me and probably wanted to shake me until I lied and told him what he wanted to hear.

"I was truly happy. And if I can get those sides back, then…"

"Then what? You're going to run away with him? You really believe that _you're_ enough to stop him from trying to break the curse? Melanie, wake up! This isn't a fairytale. This is the real world and in the real world you can end up dead if you continue acting like this."

"Fine! Then let me die, Damon! I'm going to be reborn anyway…"

I began walking back, but Damon grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him. He didn't say anything, but just hugged me tightly. I could sense that he didn't want to become my enemy. He was just… worried and maybe scared of losing his best friend.

If I wasn't so hopeful about Klaus's chances of becoming the man I fell in love with, then I would might have fallen for his good looks and charming personality. But it wasn't guaranteed, because I did see him as my friend and loved doing normal friend stuff with him like getting a drink or playing pool at the grill.

"If you ever do want a drink with me or want to become friends with bene–"

"Now you're just pushing it, Damon!" I interrupted and shook my head of him.

Damon chuckled and ruffled my hair a bit before he said goodbye and left. I went back home and saw that Shawn wasn't there. Katherine was though and she was smirking.

"What did you do to my brother?" I asked teasingly, knowingly that he had probably just gone shopping or gone to meet up with some of his friends here.

"Drank all of his blood and ate him," Katherine teased. "No, he just went to buy groceries."

I nodded understandingly and continued looking for any clues or things in the diaries that would activate my old memories.

"While you went to talk with Mr. Smartass, Elena called and asked if you want to come to dinner at her place tonight – probably to cheer you up," I looked at Katherine for a moment and sighed. Going to a dinner and see how happy she was with Stefan, was one of the last things I wanted to do right now. I wanted to be alone and just distract myself from the pain by finding the answers to my many questions. "I think you should go. Using all your time on _this_…" She gestured at the stack of books and diaries in front of us. "… Isn't going to help you with the pain."

I sighed. I didn't want to admit it, but she might be right. It would hurt to see how lucky Elena was when it came to love, but it wouldn't hurt as much as the pain I was feeling right now. But right now I wanted to work and until then, Katherine and my brother were the only ones who were allowed to keep me company.

"What did Damon want? To bicker with you again?" Katherine asked curiously.

"No, or… well, we did bicker a bit, but we're good," I answered. "He was just worried for me and reminded me of that Klaus might not be worth trying to save."

Katherine seemed surprised to hear that Damon was worried for me, but she wasn't surprised about the last part. He did like to be in charge and decide what was going to happen.

"You want to hear my opinion on this?"

I was almost too afraid to answer, but I nodded and listened to what she had to say about my problems with Klaus and Damon.

"I hope that you manage to make Klaus change his mind about breaking the curse. And I'm not saying this just because _I_ don't want to be captured and killed by him, but because you deserve to be happy after being reborn – only God knows – how many times."

I did deserve to be happy and I still thought that _he_… that my _brother_ was wrong in cursing me 786 years ago. I remembered him now. _He_ was the one who gave me the choice. But Shawn wasn't _him_.


	26. Milo

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 25_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! :D_**

**_Thanks for reviewing, subscribing, and favoriting! It really warms my heart :) _**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 25:

**Stefan's POV:**

"You think she's going to come?" I asked Elena, while she was chopping some salad and I was checking the chicken.

Elena turned to me and just looked at me with a worried expression in her face that told me everything I needed to know. She _hoped _that Melanie was going to come for dinner, because ever since she had to break up with Klaus and he left, she had been very… depressed. She had become very quiet and whenever Elena and the other girls would try to cheer her up, she would still be thinking of Klaus and if he was okay.

I knew that Melanie and Damon had been bickering a lot lately, but I told Damon to apologize and have a talk with her today. Hopefully, he had swallowed his pride for her sake and tried to look past what she had done. I did understand why Melanie did as she did, because I too was in love and would do almost everything for Elena.

But I wasn't that sure if it was a good idea of her being in love with Klaus, because he _was_ very dangerous and we didn't know how to stop him without having to trust Elijah, whom we'd not only double-crossed, but also killed. Now he lay on the ground in our cellar with the dagger in his heart and he was going to stay there for good.

"Elena! You have guests!" Jenna called as she headed out the door.

I could already hear now that it was Bonnie and Caroline, but to much of Elena's disappointment Melanie wasn't there too. I overheard her asking the others if they had heard anything from Melanie, but they hadn't. Therefore, Elena chose to go to Melanie's house, while Caroline and Bonnie helped me with the rest of the dinner.

"I still can't believe that Lukas was Klaus…" Caroline mumbled, shaking her head. "I mean he's… he's like the Devil himself!"

"Caroline!" Bonnie shushed, because she was worried that Melanie might overhear her if she had agreed to come and was right at the door.

"Maybe we should just lay off the talk about Melanie and try to have a normal dinner," I suggested. "Melanie did what she did and that's it… Bonnie, could you please take the chicken out?"

Bonnie nodded and carefully took it out with the help of Caroline, who didn't mind being burned a bit. Elena returned to the kitchen – alone – and had a bit of a worried look on her face.

"She didn't want to come?" I asked worriedly.

Elena shook her head. "She wasn't home. Shawn said she went to the grill."

I frowned. "Alone? Did he mention if Damon was with her?"

Elena shook her head, so I sent a text to Damon to check if he was with Melanie right now. I didn't want her to be outside alone when she of all knew that she was going to be killed soon by a werewolf if she didn't break her curse. But Damon wrote that he was at home, minding his own business.

"I'll call Matt and ask him if she's there," Caroline said. "He should be at work tonight."

We both nodded and continued preparing the dinner, while Caroline made the call. But we didn't get to enjoy the dinner, because Caroline quickly hurried to the dining room with a worried expression on her face. Something was wrong.

"She isn't there! Matt said she left and by the look of how she walked, he thinks that she might be drunk." Caroline said.

Oh, no… So much for the dinner. I quickly called Damon and told him to help us find Melanie. He, Caroline, and I looked for her outside, while Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy tried calling her and tracking her cell phone via a GPS tracking system.

**Melanie's POV:**

"Mr. Scotch, you're… you're not going-going to leave me, riiight?" I asked the half-empty bottle in my hands.

The bottle didn't say a word. Maybe it was giving me the cold shoulder? Who cared? It was just a… a _mean_, _egocentric_ bottle of scotch! It did taste good though… I took another sip of it and felt the same burning sensation in my throat. It kept me warm inside in the cold and snowy weather. I looked up towards the grey sky and felt small, cold snowflakes land on my face. It looked so beautiful and so… funny. Very, verrry funny!

I wanted a better look so I rose to my feet with the bottle in my hand (that I got from the bartender Damon once compelled into letting me have free drinks) and looked for a moment at the big lake in front of me. It was completely frozen. Like my heart. Maybe… maybe I could skate on it. Yeah, I wanted to skate on it. I nodded to myself and took a step out on the thick ice and then another one.

Un-freakin-fortunately, I slipped when I took the third step. I was like Bambi on ice! Dear Mr. Scotch fell too onto the ice and broke into million and billion bits of pieces. I had fallen onto my stomach, but _I_… I didn't break into million and billion bits of pieces. I rose to my feet again and noticed something reflecting in the ice. It was the full moon. I carefully turned around and saw two glowing yellow eyes in the darkness. I heard a loud growl too and suddenly felt so light-headed.

"Who…" I didn't get to say more. The dark, furry _thing_ stepped closer and growled even louder, making me flinch. But I could see what it was now. It was a wolf. A big furry and black _werewolf_. Oh, bloody hell! I was so-fucking-screwed right now. But I didn't care. I wanted to die. I'd been feeling so worthless all day, tried to convince myself that I should just continue my life and go the dinner instead of staying at home, but no matter how much I tried to be happy, I still felt like this. "C'mon, you-you bloody–"

The werewolf suddenly ran towards me, lunging to attack me with its sharp teeth. I was ready to die when I felt the first bite on my arm, but the pain was quickly released when I saw a dark figure in front of me, who grabbed the werewolf by its neck and threw it away from me, hitting the big trees nearby and knocking it unconscious.

I was bleeding from my arm and too in shock to move at first. My head was spinning and I felt like I was vomiting soon, but I still managed to crawl away when the dark figure in front of me tried to grab me. I could hear the ice beginning to crack underneath me and before any of us could react; I suddenly heard a loud crash and felt mind-numbing cold water touch my body.

"No!" he shouted.

I didn't know why he shouted and really didn't care at this minute. I was paralyzed by the cold water and was sinking deeper and deeper into it. What happened next, I didn't know. All I knew that the darkness took over me and made my body go completely numb. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I… I was dead. It was the only explanation to why I was feeling like this. But wouldn't I be reborn now? Or did I have to wait for a whole century before it would happen?

"_Melanie… Please wake up,_" a familiar voice said.

It reminded me of someone… someone I hadn't seen for a very long time. 786 years to be precise.

"_Frída, wake up! Do you not see that this… this wicked man is not worth saving?" my brother asked and lowered his voice when he noticed Klaus at his balcony, staring towards us with his dazzling blue eyes. "I worry for your safety, dear sister. And if you do not obey me I __will__ punish you."_

"_I do not want to do it, Milo! Please respect my choice as your sister," I begged. "I… I am deeply in love with him!"_

"_In love with him? Frída, you are only 17 of age! You do not know of love," Milo looked up at the young creature near us and pulled me deeper into the darkness where he could not see us and where I could not see him. "Would you die for him? Would you give your own life to save his? He's a one of __them__. Do you not remember what they did to our parents?"_

_I nodded. I did remember, but I was absolutely sure about this. I would die for this man even though my brother reckoned that he was a monster. I believed that this man was not entirely evil. I believed that I could help him. Maybe I was just being foolish, maybe I did not know of love like my brother said, but I would never give up on anyone. Not even if he was a monster or the Devil himself. _

_However, my dear brother became furious by this and slapped me across my face, trying to make me wake up from whatever ridiculous dream I was dreaming._

"_I cast a curse upon on you, Frída. I cast a curse so that you will understand that these thoughts of yours are not love, but a vicious poison inside you that has destroyed your common sense! You will live 17 years every century, only to die at the hands of the skin walkers, who walk freely tonight!" Milo said. "Unless… unless you obey me and do as I told you to, you will continue to suffer endlessly and remember every memory in your future lives – painful as joyful! And if you have not killed him before the day where I as well will be reborn, then I will kill him myself!" _

"_Clear!" someone suddenly yelled._

My eyes shut open immediately and I gasped loudly, trying to catch my breath. I quickly sat up and felt a strong pain in my arm that forced me to let out a loud and deafening scream that made someone curse under his breath. I looked frantically around and saw blurry figures in front of me; two of them were dressed in white.

"Mel! Mel, it is okay! You're fine now," one of the blurry figures said. I closed my eyes for a moment to get used to the bright light and opened them again, finding out that the blurry figures were not strangers, but some of my friends and brother. "You're at a hospital. Someone brought you here after you were attacked in the woods by a wolf."

A wolf? I took a deep breath to calm my beating heart down and looked at my body. I was freezing cold, my hair was wet, and my left arm was covered in cast. I was safe – maybe hangover and exhausted – but safe.

"You're stabile now, but you should get some rest. You've had two hard couple of days…" the doctor said.

He was about to say something more, but Damon discretely compelled him to leave, and he did the same thing to the nurse.

"Are you out of your freakin' mind?" Shawn hissed immediately.

Something was changed about him. He was scared and thought that he was going to lose me. For a moment he did. But now I was back and I remembered _everything_. I remembered my life as the Italian Adelina Milani who lived in the 15th century, I remembered my life as the Japanese Satomi Minami in the 14th century, and at last my original life as the Danish/shamanic seeress Frída in the 13th century.

"You…" I said, pointing at my brother.

He didn't understand what was going on at first, but then he seemed to recognize the look in my eyes. _Frída's_ look. His face turned pale and he tried to leave, but Damon quickly grabbed his arms and forced him down on a chair, holding him down so he couldn't escape. He did try to use his hidden powers on Damon, but Stefan too held him down.

"I need to have a talk with you, _Milo_."


	27. A Glimpse Of Sadness

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 26! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! :)_**

**_Again, thanks for the kind reviews 8D (Yes, I do love to make smileys at the end! xD)_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 26:

**Melanie's POV:**

I'd always been confused of why it was always _werewolves_ who killed me and not vampires or humans or even by my own hand. It was because Milo hated vampires. Apparently, our parents were killed by vampires, and therefore he held a grudge against them.

It explained why he wasn't that fond of Damon and why he tried to "protect" me from getting hurt by Lukas, whom he probably knew was Klaus. I was furious at him, because for how long had he been acting like a _normal_ brother? For how long had he been lying to me? And how could he just let me die over and over again?

"Give me one good reason to why I shouldn't kill you right now and here!" Damon snarled at him and growled under his breath.

Shawn snorted and just flashed a familiar smirk on his face that could only belong to Milo. I remembered him being a very strict and mature brother, who acted like my father rather than my brother. Maybe Shawn remembered Milo's life after the death of our parents and began drinking to forget what he was seeing? It would explain why Shawn changed a lot since we last met.

"Jules attacked and almost killed your sister and then you just smirk!" Damon hissed angrily.

My face turned pale. _Jules_ attacked me? Was she a werewolf? It would explain why he dated her, but… did this mean that he told her to kill me?

"Hey!" I said and got their attention. "Please… please leave. Except Shawn. I want to talk with him. Alone."

Reluctantly, everybody left except for Shawn. He sat up properly in the chair and just looked at me with wondering eyes. A part of him probably knew what I was going to say, but there was something else I needed to know.

"I'm truly sorry about what happened to you. It shouldn't have happened," he said and scratched his chin a bit. He was being honest with me – so much I could tell. "I take you want to know why I am like I am… To make a long story short, then you're not the only one who suddenly remember your past lives. It happened to me after our parents died."

So our parents' death _was_ the trigger to his memories! I was still pissed at him though. He was the one who forced me to choose between loving Klaus and killing him.

"Why did you curse me? Why _do_ I have to obey you?" I asked. "You're _not_ dad and you don't get to decide whom I'm allowed to love."

"I'm just trying to protect you! Do you know how many Klaus has killed over the last hundreds of years? Do you really want to be in a relationship with a murderer?" Shawn answered angrily.

I sighed heavily. We weren't going anywhere. No matter how many times I tried to convince him that Klaus needed _help_ more than to die, then he would always be so… stubborn and coldhearted. He didn't understand how I felt or how… well, I didn't know how Klaus felt about me right now, because he seemed pretty heartbroken when I broke up with him.

"786 years have passed and you _still_ haven't learned your lesson, _Frída_? How much time do you need to give up this nonsense and listen to me?" Shawn asked.

"Enough time for me to beat the crap out of you before you so much as touch her," a voice said at the doorway. Damon. I sighed and looked at him. He looked worried for me and I knew why. He was telling the truth about caring for me and even though he hated Klaus, he didn't _curse_ me like Milo had. He just scolded half as much as Milo had 786 years ago. "You better leave before I snap your neck. And I don't think Mel will have anything against it now."

I did, because he was still my brother even though Milo had taken over him. But Shawn calmly stood up and grabbed his jacket, hopefully because he was getting ready to leave.

"Damon, I'm a shaman. Are you really _that_ stupid enough to threaten me?" Shawn scoffed.

"No, but you know what, Milo?" I asked teasingly, catching his attention. "If you don't want me to date Klaus, then I'll just date Damon and fall in love with him instead. Doesn't that sound great?"

Shawn glared at me with a venomous look and clenched his fists, because it annoyed him. But he noticed Stefan and the others just shy the door and chose to leave. I wasn't enjoying to bicker with my own brother, but I couldn't do anything to remove Milo from him until my powers had returned and I was only going to get them by killing either my brother or Klaus, which I _really_ didn't want to.

"What a douche bag…" Damon mumbled irritated and went closer to me. "I liked Shawn better."

I smiled weakly and sighed. "Me too," I said. "But you shouldn't threaten him. I mean, look at what he did to his own sister…" I felt my eyes getting wet and quickly dried them with the back of my hand. "Damon, I know this is much to ask for, but… you think I could stay at your place for a while?"

Damon nodded without hesitating and sat down on the chair next to my bed. I needed my best friend to be there for me now that I couldn't get comfort or safety from my possessed-like brother.

**The Salvatore Boarding House, December 21 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

"_Remember_," Damon said, pointing towards his room from the doorway of my temporary bedroom. "If you feel lonely, then you're always welcomed in my bed."

I rolled my eyes and just went in to my bedroom. Damon on the other hand, laughed outside the door and reminded me of that he would always be there if I ever stopped loving Klaus. I knew that he was just joking and trying to cheer me up, but I couldn't help but wonder if I should go to him and stop trying to help Klaus. Sometimes I really wanted to help him, but other times I doubted myself. It was really beginning to annoy me.

However, at least I didn't have to spend Christmas with my past life's evil bossy brother and I was surrounded by friends. That I had to spend my Christmas here, reminded me of the time when I first visited Damon and Stefan. I clearly remembered that the two Salvatore brothers were fighting to win my love and instead I ended up becoming a good friend of them.

"_Mel?_" a voice said outside the door.

Stefan. I smiled, opened the door, and saw not only Stefan but also Elena. They were carrying boxes of Christmas decorations and looked like they were ready to go somewhere with the boxes.

"I know you've just gotten here, but we're going to the Lockwood's to help decorating their home for the big Christmas party and we could need more volunteers. You want to go?" Elena asked kindly.

"Well…" I looked down at my injured arm and then at them. "I'll only be able to use one arm, but sure, why not?" I said.

"That's okay. I'm sure we'll find something you can do," Stefan said. "And just stay with us in case Shawn shows up."

I nodded and went with them to the Lockwood Mansion where surprisingly many teens had showed up to help. I knew that Tyler was still missing too so it was probably why there were so many. I felt bad for his mother, because not long ago she lost her husband and now her only son had gone missing. But I found something easy to do with Elena and tried not to think about either Shawn or Klaus.

"How do you usually spend your Christmas?" Elena asked curiously. "I mean, back when you still lived in England."

"Well… um… My aunt Martha usually forced me to help her making dinner for the church and then we would go to mass too, which was by the way really boring," I said. "But after I've helped out and we've been to church, I would just go to my best friends Lola and Zeke and spend Christmas with Zeke's family."

"Oh… what about Shawn? Did he ever visit you in England?"

I shook my head and sighed by the memory of every time I thought that Shawn was going to come and he didn't. Whenever he called me around Christmas time he would promise me that he would come, but something always came up in the last minute.

"I'm sorry. I know you're going through a rough time," Elena apologized. "But you're welcome to spend your Christmas with us."

"Thanks. I'm defiantly going to come. If I stay at the boarding house alone with Damon, then I'm probably gonna end up getting drunk and doing something I'm going to regret," I said laughing. "Is Stefan coming too?"

Elena nodded. "Of course… Oh, rats! We're out of stars and hearts. I'll get some more. Wait a sec."

I watched Elena as she left the hall and went to get some more decorations, while I waited patiently at our nicely decorated wall. I was expecting Shawn to show up at any minute now that I was alone, but instead I saw our History teacher Mr. Saltzman, who was acting rather… _strange_ today. He seemed so different and even though I knew that he knew that vampires and werewolves existed too, I hadn't really talked a lot with him. Maybe I should.

"Mr. Saltzman!" I called, without knowing why.

At first he didn't react, but then he noticed me and smiled brightly. He calmly approached me and smirked in a charming way that seemed slightly familiar.

"Hello, Melanie. I heard about what happened to you…" he said. "Who was the brave man who saved you from the werewolf?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I was too drunk to see him properly. But I… have a strange feeling that it might have been Klaus."

"Klaus?" he repeated surprised, but seemed to want to know more.

"Yes. I think he came back to save me."

"Oh… you still miss him?"

I nodded. I missed him a lot. "I just… love him so much, you know. I thought that my love was enough for him, but…" I shook my head. I was rambling on with my History teacher now. "I'm sorry, Mr. Saltzman. I shouldn't be talking with you about my problems."

For a moment I saw a glimpse of sadness in his eyes. It was as if I had hit a soft spot in him, but I guessed that he was just thinking of something personal.

"It's okay. I… I think I understand what you mean. But don't worry so much about m- _him_. You've tried to convince him and now you just have to wait for him to stop being so…"

"Selfish?" I suggested.

Mr. Saltzman nodded and smiled sadly. He left right as Elena came back with more decorations for us to put up on the many walls.


	28. Something Supernatural

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 27! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review!_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 27:

**The Salvatore Boarding House, December 22 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

I woke up early the following morning. In Damon's bed. I didn't plan to end up here, but after a very disturbing nightmare about Klaus, I needed some comfort and Damon gladly let me in. I was glad that he hadn't tried to do anything naughty and sighed in relief when I was reminded of how big his bed was. No, it wasn't big. It was _huge_ – a king worthy, so to speak.

I rubbed my tired eyes and rested my head on the soft pillow, enjoying all the free space I had. I had immediately noticed that Damon wasn't there anymore, but I knew where he was because I could hear the shower running in his bathroom. I couldn't help but wonder if Damon felt awkward about sleeping in the same bed with me. I knew that he had feelings for me, but I also knew that he once – and maybe still had – feelings for Elena and therefore I didn't know what his feelings for me meant.

"You know, I _could_ give you some of my blood to heal your wound…" Damon said, drying his hair with a towel.

I looked up and noticed that Damon had been done showering for a while, because he was fully dressed and just needed to dry his hair. I _had_ considered if I should drink some of his healing blood, but quickly shrugged the thought away, because it reminded me of when Klaus gave me some of his blood in the woods the time I broke my leg. I still missed him so much that it hurt.

"Earth to Melanie!" Damon teased when I didn't answer.

I shifted my gaze from my arm to him and blushed. "I'm sorry, I… No, I'll be fine," I said and carefully sat up. "And thank you for letting me sleep with-um, in your bed."

It sounded weird to say "_thank you for letting me sleep with you_", as if I was referring to something else – something much more… dirty. But Damon simply nodded and calmly approached me, resting his arms on the panel of the bed's end. He seemed worried and maybe even curious.

"You've been brooding a lot since you, Elena, and Stefan came home. What's wrong?" he asked.

"Brooding? I'm not–"

"_Melanie_." Damon interrupted firmly.

I sighed and instinctively picked at the hem of my flannel pjs. I didn't want to talk about what was wrong with me, because _I_ wasn't even sure of what was wrong. Maybe I was scared? Or maybe I just missed Klaus? Whatever it was, then it made me feel so… off.

"I… I'm confused," I forced out of me when Damon was about to say my name again. "I've just been feeling so off lately ever since… I think it's ever since Klaus left. It's like something is wrong and… last night – before I came in to you – I dreamt that-that… I dreamt that Klaus turned into this wolf-like creature and he… he attacked me. He almost killed me._"_

Damon thought about what I said for a moment and then slipped down on the mattress near my feet. He scratched his chin a bit before he spoke again.

"I think you're just worrying about him," he said. "If you weren't my best friend, I would just tell you to forget everything about him – maybe even compel you to do it – but maybe you _are _able to make him stop trying what he is trying to do."

"But what about my bro-" I bit my lip and shook my head. "What about _Milo_? He's still... a part of my brother. I don't want to kill Shawn to remove the curse."

"That's… a good question." Damon sighed and looked down towards my stomach that had just growled out of hunger. "We'll talk about it after breakfast."

I nodded and spending almost 15 minutes of trying to get my clothes on with one arm, I went downstairs to see Mr. Saltzman talking with Stefan and Damon about how I was doing and what they should do if Klaus came back. I noticed that he was still acting different and as soon as he saw me coming down from the staircase, he smiled in a familiar way that made my insides become warm.

Oddly, enough the feeling of confusion disappeared from me and I began to wonder if something had happened to good old Alaric Saltzman – something supernatural.

"Hi, Alaric," I said calmly and sat down at the dinner table. He nodded a "hi" and finished talking with the Salvatore brothers. I thought about asking Katherine if she was hungry, but I suddenly remembered that I hadn't seen her for a while now. First I guessed that she'd been out… well, just out having fun or whatever she spent her free-time with, but it had been… what? About four weeks now? "Where is Katherine?"

I caught everyone's attention – especially, Alaric's. But Damon frowned and seemed more irritated of hearing her name than he usually did. Maybe I'd missed a lot of things in the time where we weren't speaking with each other? Maybe something had happened to her and they hadn't told me about it?

"Probably long gone," Damon finally said. "She took the moonstone and left. Hopefully, she's dead."

"What? Katherine wouldn't just–"

"Actually, yes, she would," Stefan interjected. "She's always looking out for herself."

I cursed under my breath, refusing to believe that she would do such a thing. But then again – she too had changed a lot since we met for the first time hundreds of years ago. I sighed and looked down at my breakfast. Suddenly, I wasn't feeling that hungry anymore…

**Mystic Falls**

**Klaus's POV:**

I came home to find Katherine still sitting on a chair at the dinner table, stabbing herself in her leg. It was the second time this week I'd told her to do this, until I came home, but she deserved to suffer for what she did even though she brought the moonstone to me. All I needed now to break the curse, was a werewolf and of course Elena. No, I needed something _more_. Melanie.

"Having fun, _Katerina_?" I said teasingly, putting on a Bulgarian accent when I spoke her name.

Katherine glared at me with a venomous look and looked like she wanted to stab me with the knife even though she knew it wouldn't kill me. I calmly approached her and looked her in her eyes with the eyes of Alaric Saltzman's body. I'd been using it for a little while now and was eager to get back to my own body. But right now, I needed it a lot – not only to get information from the Salvatore brothers – but also to avoid being recognized by Melanie.

"I want you to put the knife down on the floor," I said, watching her as she was forced to put the knife down on the floor. I picked it up and continued ordering her. "Now be a sweetheart and make me some tea. And if you don't make it right, then…" I smirked and stabbed her in her stomach.

Katherine screamed in pain, but pulled the knife out again and went to make tea for me. I sat on the chair she had been sitting on for hours and looked at the poster I'd snatched. It was an advertisement for the big Christmas Fundraiser Party on the 24th. You could come and donate money to the less fortunate and have a good time. I saw it as the perfect time to meet that brother of hers that I'd overheard wasn't just a normal human.

"You really think that Melanie is going to forgive you after you've sacrificed Elena?" Katherine asked, setting the cup of tea down on the table.

I glared at her, clenching the knife she had pulled out of her stomach hard. But I didn't do anything with it and just took a sip of my tea. Luckily for her, it tasted good so I chose to ignore her comment and focused on my plan. The plan I had worked out for Melanie.

"Even if you convince her to go with you, then you still need to do it before she turns 18…"

She was taunting me. I quickly stood up, grabbed her by her neck, and slammed her down on the floor faster than she could react. If it wasn't because I had a much worse punishment for her, then I would kill her right away – slowly and painfully.

"Tell me _everything_ you know from the research you and Melanie have been doing," I ordered her. "And then when you're finished, I want you to take off your bracelet and burn yourself in the sunlight until the sun goes down."

Katherine gasped and her eyes widened, but she did as ordered and told me everything.

**The Salvatore Boarding House**

**Melanie's POV:**

You would think that there would be many things to do in the boarding house, but sadly that wasn't the case. After spending a couple of hours reading the sequel to the novel _Fallen_ that Lola had sent to me two weeks ago, I had absolutely nothing to do the rest of the evening. Damon was out doing something I was sure that I didn't want to know what was, Stefan was at home with Elena, and Caroline and Bonnie were probably busy too, so I was home alone in the big house.

Out of utter boredom I therefore began looking around in every room, because I thought I might as well could take a look around when I was supposed to live here, until I found a way to remove Milo from Shawn's mind. I started looking around on the second floor, but found nothing interesting in neither Stefan nor Damon's bedroom or in any of the other rooms for that matter.

However, when I began searching around in the basement, I noticed that they actually had cellars and in one of those cellars, I noticed something very interesting. Elijah. He was lying on the ground with a dagger in his heart and looked pretty… decomposed. I didn't know why the Salvatore brothers would kill Elijah and keep him in their basement, but I wanted to hear them out before I scolded them. Elijah was my friend and… and he was Klaus brother. He could help me help Klaus.

I went back upstairs to get my cell phone and when I was calling Damon while I was on my way in to the living room, I saw someone I didn't expect to see. Shawn. He was standing in the living room with a gun in his hand and looked like he had only one thing on his mind. To kill me personally.

"Milo," I said calmly, still with the cell phone pressed against my ear. Damon had answered, but I didn't let Shawn know that. I was hoping that Damon would overhear my conversation with Shawn and hurry back here to rescue me. "You're here to kill me yourself now that Jules failed?"

Shawn smirked and, which could only mean yes. He was willing to kill me – his own sister – if it was it took to keep me from Klaus. I knew there had to be some other reason to why he didn't want me to be with Klaus other than that vampires killed our parents once.

"Why are you so bent on keeping me from Klaus?" I asked. "And don't say it's because he's a vampire. I know there are other reasons."

Shawn snorted and stepped closer to me. I stepped back and could hear Damon's voice whispering to me that I should try stalling him, until he got to the house. Unfortunately, Shawn realized this and with a simple move with his free hand he sent my cell phone flying into a wall.

"Let me guess… Damon?" he said in a tone that told me that he wasn't afraid of Damon. In fact, he couldn't care less if Damon arrived any time soon. "But yes, Frída. There are other reasons. I'm sure Klaus hasn't told you why _he_ is so bent on breaking the curse on him. You want to know why? He wants to be the father of a whole new race and _that_ mixed with your powers will destroy the world."

My eyes widened. Klaus wanted to start a new race? A race of invincible hybrids? He _would_ destroy the world. He would… he would become to the monster I dreamt about and the hybrids would kill every human. Maybe even me too after I'd given birth to the creatures. I couldn't let that happen, but I didn't want to kill Klaus. I wanted to talk him into reason and keep him as a vampire with a dormant werewolf side or – if it was possible – remove the werewolf in him.

"I _am_ truly sorry about this, Frída. But I've seen the future. I've seen what will happen if I don't stop him and you've seen it too. You're just too naïve and foolish to accept the truth." Shawn said.

I shook my head. "But you removed my powers! I'm just a human." I said.

Now Shawn laughed. He laughed as if I was too dumb to understand what was going on. As if I was just his brainless little sister, who couldn't make her own decisions.

"That's not true… Your powers are still in your genes. They are just… dormant like Klaus's werewolf side, but let's not waste time talking. Close your eyes, Frída."

I shook my head again. "Shawn, _please_… I don't want to die," It came more out like a whisper, but _Shawn_ heard me and for a moment I saw the look in his eyes change. But Shawn shook his head and returned to being controlled by Milo. "Shawn, _don't_ do this! You're stronger than him! Don't let him kill me!"

I hoped that Shawn would somehow heard me, but every time Shawn tried to take control of his body and mind, Milo just pushed him mentally back and kept him in the darkness. However, I'd stalled him long enough for Damon to arrive and he quickly tackled him, while Shawn was trying another time to take control of his body and mind.

I watched as Damon was attacked by Shawn and flew right in to several walls in the living room. I didn't know what to do, because I couldn't do much with a broken arm. So instead I quickly looked for the gun Shawn had dropped when he was tackled by Damon and aimed it at Shawn's shoulder, not wanting to kill him, but just to hurting him enough stop throwing Damon into the walls.

Quickly, Damon rose to his feet as Shawn stumbled forward, and lunged an attack right there where I had shot Shawn. Shawn screamed in pain and fell over, but he threw a vervain bomb at Damon and before any of us could stop him, he had sprinted out the door and disappeared into the night.

"Mel? Are you alright?" Damon asked worriedly, while his skin was healing.

I nodded and sat down on the couch before I was going to pass out. I'd shot my brother. If Shawn died… I would never be able to forgive myself. I knew that I had hit him, because there was blood on the floor right there where he fell. Hopefully, he knew how to heal his wounds, but until then he wasn't going to try another attempt to kill me. I didn't know why I did what I did next, but Frída just told me to gather Shawn's blood and I did it without questioning her. Maybe she had a plan B. I surely hoped so, because if I didn't do something soon both Klaus and I would end up dead.


	29. Vladimir

**_A/N: Hi! Here's chapter 28! :D_**

**_I'm going to update 4 times today, because there are only four chapters left! 8D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review! _**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 28:

**The Salvatore Boarding House**

**Damon's POV:**

"Here," I said, taking Melanie's attention away from the vial of blood she was looking so intensely at. I knew that the vial contained her brother's blood, but I didn't know why she needed it. "Did you get an answer to your question? You know, about the other reasons he had for hating Klaus so much?"

Melanie shrugged. Either she didn't know or else she didn't want to tell me, because it wasn't any of my business. I hated whenever she kept secrets from me, but I didn't want to interrogate her when she was pretty shaken up by what just happened. Her brother did almost kill her.

"And I thought I was a messed up big brother…" I mumbled.

Melanie heard it, but she didn't get angry or sad. She just sighed and took a sip of the tea I'd made for her. I wondered what she was thinking right now. She seemed so… calm and didn't freak out about almost being killed by her brother. If Elena was almost killed by Jeremy, I was sure that she would be pretty freaked out. But Melanie… no, she just sat there and thought about something.

"You look really sexy when you're brooding like that," I said teasingly and smirked. Finally, Melanie let the thoughts go and wrinkled her nose at me for coming with that comment. "Care to tell me what's wrong?"

"Everything is wrong," she said irritated. "I can't do anything right. I think Karma hates me."

"If she hates you, then she must really despise me!"

I slipped down next to her on the couch and leaned back with a smirk on my lips. Melanie snorted weakly, but loud enough for me to hear it. I knew that she didn't love me the way I loved her and Elena, but I had to try. I had to try kissing her and see for sure if it was or wasn't possible for me to change her mind about her feelings for Klaus.

But when I began caressing her cheek gently and made my move, she suddenly turned her gaze to me and looked at me with a look in her blue eyes that forced me to stop shy from her lips.

"Why is Elijah lying dead in your basement cellar?" she asked firmly.

I sighed weakly. Of course she was going to find him sooner or later. It just happened sooner than I thought.

"Because we can't trust him," I said honestly. "He was going to let Klaus sacrifice Elena and then kill him while he would supposedly be weak. Whatever you do, then _don't_ ever remove the dagger from his heart. You understand?"

Melanie nodded and sighed heavily. I gave her a simple kiss on her forehead and went down to the basement for a moment to check if she _had_ removed the dagger. She hadn't. Elijah was still lying on the floor and slowly decomposing. His skin was completely pale, his clothes were all worn and ruined, and his dark eyes were just staring up at the ceiling with an empty look.

"_Mel? What happened?_" I heard Stefan say in the living room.

I calmly went back to the living room and found Saint Stefan alone in there with Melanie. But Melanie didn't even want to share her thoughts with him and just looked down at her tea cup.

"Shawn was here," I said and went to pour myself a glass of scotch. "He tried to kill her, but… she shot him with his own gun. He's not dead though. Only wounded."

Stefan sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly irritated by the fact that even in our home Melanie wasn't safe. I took a sip of my scotch and sat down on the armchair.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked worriedly. "I know it must have been hard for you to–"

"I'm fine," Melanie interrupted. "I… I think I'll go to bed now. Thanks for helping me, Damon."

Melanie took her cup of tea with her upstairs and both Stefan and I watched until she disappeared from our sight. We were probably thinking the same thing. She was acting just like Avery did and being quiet, because she had a lot of things on her mind right now.

"What are we supposed to do about Shawn?" Stefan asked. "And no, killing him is not an option."

I was actually just about to say it, but I did have something else on my mind. However, it would be very dangerous and we would need the help of the others.

"If Bonnie can harness her ancestors' power before the Christmas Fundraiser Party, then I defiantly have a plan to how we can stop Shawn." I said.

Stefan looked at me for a moment, but nodded understandingly and while I called Bonnie and let her know of where we were going tomorrow, he went upstairs to check on Melanie. Bonnie wasn't too fond of going against Melanie's brother, because she had heard that he was powerful and then he was still the brother of one of her friends, but I convinced her to go with the plan.

"She's sleeping," Stefan informed me, just as I'd hung up on Bonnie. "But while we're at it… what do we do if Klaus shows up at the party? He might try to take her back."

I thought about it for a moment, but I honestly didn't know what we were supposed to do if Klaus did show up. But I did know that if Shawn and Klaus were in the same room together, then things would get pretty bad.

"I'll… think about it," I said and poured up some more scotch in my glass. "Right now we only need to focus on Shawn though. He's not giving up that easily."

**The Lockwood Mansion, December 24 2010**

**Melanie's POV:**

The Christmas Fundraiser Party began at seven, but we first arrived at eight. I wasn't too happy about going to the party, because I feared that I might have another run-in with Shawn, but all of my friends were here and it seemed as if they had everything under control. I knew that they were planning to do something tonight, but I wasn't told what the plan was about. I was just told to keep myself near them.

The Lockwood Mansion was already crowded with many people when we arrived and I noticed that many rich people were here to donate money to the poor. I was happy about that, because of course I wanted orphans, homeless people or other people, who couldn't afford to have a nice dinner or to buy presents, to get a proper Christmas.

For once I actually tried to push away my worries and wanted to have fun, but I had to do it sober, because who knew how depressed I would get again if I became drunk? So I spent the first couple of minutes dancing with Elena and Bonnie, while Caroline fetched us some non-alcoholic drinks. I did notice that Bonnie and Elena were keeping an eye out for Shawn and making sure that I was safe, but I didn't mind. I didn't want to think about Shawn tonight or anyone else for that matter.

"Excuse me," a familiar voice said behind me. I recognized it immediately and stopped dancing shortly. I turned around and my suspicion was confirmed. It was _him_. "Hello, Valentina…"

"Vladimir!" I gasped, but not loud enough for Elena and Bonnie to hear it. But there he was – in the flesh – and he looked like himself. Of course now his dark brown hair wasn't long, but only went to his shoulders. But his dark brown eyes had remained the same and so had his Russian accent. I quickly turned to Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline and saw that they were waiting for an answer. "I-um-I'll be right back. I just need to speak with my friend for a moment."

I nodded to let them know that I was safe and lead Vladimir to nearby a balcony where we could talk in private, but where my friends still would be able to see me. I didn't know what to say right now, because I thought that Vladimir was dead. I didn't think that he would be able to find me.

However, Vladimir knew what to do and as soon as we were nearby the balcony, he pulled me close to him and pressed his lips against mine. I hadn't expected him to do this and was so stunned by his sudden actions that I couldn't make myself move. I just stood there and let him kiss me.

"I've missed you so much, Valentina…" he whispered softly in Russian in my ear.

But suddenly we both heard a cough and someone said my name to get my attention. I turned my head to see Damon standing next to us with an angry look on his face. Sadly, Vladimir also turned his head to him and he glared venomously at him for interrupting us.

"Melanie, _what_ are you doing?" Damon asked.

"Melanie?" Vladimir repeated confused.

"Yes, my name is Melanie now," I said and he turned his attention back to me. "I was reborn, Vladimir."

He thought about what I said for a while, but he didn't let go of me. He knew that I remembered him and that I was alive, and that was all what meant for him.

"I see we have a lot to talk about," he said, smiling brightly. "Let's go."

Vladimir tried to leave with me, but Damon quickly stopped him and removed his hand from me. This seemed to annoy Vladimir, so I hoped that Damon was careful. I knew that Vladimir was much stronger and older than him and didn't want him to get hurt.

"You must be Damon Salvatore," Vladimir said smirking smugly. "I've heard a lot about you and your brother. Are you still both madly in love with Katherine Pierce?"

"No, who the hell are you?" Damon asked angrily.

"Me? I'm Vladimir Romanov. I am willing to see past your foolish act if you move now and let me and my love leave." Vladimir answered.

Damon snorted. "Not gonna happen. Melanie doesn't love you. So why don't you just skip along and leave us alone?"

Vladimir smirk turned more sinister and before Damon could react, he suddenly grabbed him by his arm, pressed it to his back, and pinned him up against the wall. I didn't know what Vladimir said to Damon, but he leaned closely to Damon's ear and whispered something that made Damon growl and curse under his breath.

Therefore, I quickly made Vladimir let go of him and dragged him outside on the balcony – away from Damon who looked pissed enough to kill Vladimir right here and now.

"Please tell me that you're not dating that…" Vladimir glared at Damon. "… _baboon_."

"I'm not dating Damon," I said angrily. "But I do not love you Vladimir and I'm not going with you either. I'm sorry you came for nothing, but… that's just how it is. I'm in love with someone else."

Vladimir seemed pissed about this, but he kept his composure and remained calm. "Who?"

I took a deep breath; feeling worried of what Vladimir would say when I answered. He might leave if he knew who Klaus was, but he also might do something else. "Klaus. I'm… in love with Klaus."

His eyes widened. So he did know him! Vladimir looked at me for a moment. "And he loves you too?"

I nodded and after smiling a bit for a couple of seconds, he just left again.

**The Lockwood Mansion**

**Klaus's POV:**

It felt like my heart stopped when I saw his lips press against hers. I needed to stop this right away. I couldn't let _him_ take away my sweet Melanie. I quickly found Damon at the bar, sipping on a glass of scotch, and of course he immediately greeted me, believing that I was still his friend Alaric Saltzman.

"Maybe you should have a word with Melanie." I said and pointed towards her.

Damon followed my direction and cursed under his breath before he quickly hurried over to the balcony. I watched him at a safe distance and saw how he bickered with Vladimir Romanov, whom I had crossed paths with many times in the past. He was a big rival of mine, but no match when it came to our strength.

Sadly, it seemed that he too had fallen in love with one of Melanie's past lives and if Damon didn't stop him, he would leave with her. I couldn't do much about it in this human body, so of course I was worried for her safety. Luckily, Melanie said something to him that made him go away, but I knew that he was going to return. An old vampire like him didn't give up that easily on a girl. I would know that. I'd said it many times before to my brother Elijah and even reminded myself of it.

Love is a vampire's greatest weakness.

That was why I didn't want Melanie to die. She was my true weakness and no matter how much I tried to ignore my feelings for her, I couldn't. She had me under her compulsion. But as long as she was wearing the ring I gave her, I knew that she would be safe.

"I'm surprised," a voice said next to me. I turned to see no other than Shawn himself, standing with a glass of champagne and smirking arrogantly at me. "Using Mr. Saltzman as your vessel is really an impressive idea. Just sad you're not going to get away with it… Klaus."

The way Shawn spoke reminded me of someone. Milo. Frída's very strict and harsh brother, whom supposedly cursed his own sister to keep her away from me. I'd heard quite a bit about him, but I did not fear him. I wanted to meet him tonight so I could kill him and free Melanie from the curse.

"If you hurt me, you'll just hurt Melanie too," Shawn warned me though, reading my thoughts. "I'm not stupid. Of course I knew you were going to be here."

I snorted. "You're bluffing." I said.

Shawn chuckled. "Oh, am I? Just watch this."

He took out a pocket knife and cut his arm with it. Almost instantly, I saw blood dripping from Melanie's arm too and she began panicking. Quickly, Damon was there to give her some of his blood to her. But as her wound healed, so this Shawn's. He was defiantly not bluffing this…


	30. Heartbeat

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 29 :)_**

**_I hope you like it and please review!_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Chapter 29:

**The Lockwood Mansion**

**Melanie's POV:**

Shit, bullocks, crap, fuck, of everything bad in the world I just _had_ to run in to my brother again! I sighed in frustration and pinned the bridge of my nose with my fingers for a moment, wondering what I was supposed to do and why the hell I suddenly began bleeding from my arm. I needed to speak with Shawn. I needed… I needed to do _something_ that would stop him from hurting me!

"Melanie," Damon said firmly, because he had seen what I'd seen. "Listen carefully to me and do exactly as I say so. Make sure your brother sees you go upstairs and go to the second room on the left of the hallway. Don't ask why. Just do it."

I didn't want to question Damon when he sounded so serious, so I did as I was told and made sure that Shawn followed me upstairs to the room. As soon as I entered the room, Caroline dragged me to the side and signed for me to follow her in to another room where Elena also was.

"Frída! I know you're in here!" Shawn called as he walked in to the room I'd been in.

"That's where you're wrong, Milo," I heard Damon say.

He, Caroline and Bonnie had surrounded my brother, and they were going to do something to him that hopefully didn't have anything with death to do.

"What are they doing?" I whispered to Elena.

"We're trapping him and stripping away his powers," Elena answered. "Bonnie has harnessed the powers of her ancestors. Don't worry, we won't kill him, I promise."

I nodded understandingly and tried to remain quiet even though I was scared of what might happen to my friends and even my brother.

"And now you're throwing a Salem witch at me… very stupidly done," Shawn said smirking smugly. Bonnie ignored his comment and raised her hand to cast a spell on him, but suddenly Shawn sent her flying in to Caroline. Damon tried yet again to attack him and this time he managed to punch Shawn in his stomach. However, as Shawn hunched over in pain, so did I. "I reeeaally don't think you should do that."

"Why not? You'll get upset?" Damon asked, smirking just as smugly.

He lunged another attack at Shawn and this time he managed to kick him in his stomach before Shawn could defend himself. But I felt the hard kick to my stomach and screamed in pain, making everyone turn their head to me in the other room.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you? Everything you do to me hurts Melanie too. But go ahead – just kill me!" Shawn said.

Damon growled and was about to attack Shawn again, but Stefan stepped in and stopped him. I knew that this wasn't going to end until I was dead, so I let Frída take over my body and mind and she made me take out the vial of blood I'd gathered. I went in to the other room and stood face to face with Shawn, who seemed happy to see me out of my hidings.

"There you are, Frída! Ready to die?" Shawn asked teasingly.

"Yes, but are you?" I asked coldly and showed him the vial. His eyes widened immediately. "I guess you know what this is. It's your blood. You've thought me a lot of things, Milo. But I learned other things behind your back. Things that you didn't want me to learn."

I removed the cap from the vial and drank every bit of the blood, then began chanting out an old spell in ancient Latin that I knew I would have to use almost all my strength to cast. The lights began flickering and exploded, the floor began shaking violently – but only in this room – and I saw the horror in Shawn's eyes when I raised my hand towards him.

"No! Don't do this!" he screamed, but I didn't care. He deserved this. "Frída, stop! You'll kill _everybody_ if you don't stop Klaus!"

Sweat was beginning to drip down from my face and my heart was pounding hard against my chest, but I couldn't let go of his soul yet. I needed to pull Milo out of Shawn and imprison him in the ring Klaus gave me. And that was what I did.

I pulled Milo out of Shawn's body and used all of my strength to keep his soul from possessing Shawn again. My legs began wobbling and for a moment I thought I was going to die before I succeeded doing this, but I just clenched my teeth and fought through the agonizing pain I was feeling in my heart until I was sure that his soul was trapped in the ring.

Time seemed to change to slow-motion. Every sound except my own decreasing heartbeat had disappeared and all I was left with was numbness in my body.

_Thump-thump… Thump-thump… Thump… thump…_

My eyes felt heavy and dropped like quicker than I could react. I felt my body hit something hard, but the pain was quickly overwhelmed by the numbness. I tried opening my eyes several times, only to see a flash of light that blinded my eyes.

_Thump… thump… Thump…_

_Thump… thump…_

**The Lockwood Mansion**

**Damon's POV:**

It couldn't be true. This couldn't be happening. She didn't deserve to die. She… I quickly wiped away the tears that had fallen down on her face. My tears. I looked at the others in the room and noticed that Rick was here as well, completely in shock of what had just happened. He was muttering something I couldn't comprehend and looked just as heartbroken as we did.

Then it happened.

Elena broke down crying and so did Caroline and Bonnie. They'd broken the silence and done what every one of us was trying to stop from happening. I turned my eyes to Shawn who was beginning to wake up and as soon as he saw his sister lying dead on the floor, he broke down crying too. He remembered what had happened and quickly crawled over to his sister, desperately trying to wake her up. I stood up and could hear the sound of someone who was heading upstairs.

We needed to go. Now!

"Someone's coming," I said and carefully took Melanie's lifeless body up in my arms. The others hesitated a bit, but they knew that we had to go. Stefan and I snuck out to the parking lot through a window and carried Melanie to our car. We then met with the others and hurried as fast as we could to our house. I didn't know where Rick went, but he left in a hurry. Though, I didn't have time to wonder why Rick reacted the way he did and just focused on getting Melanie home. "Shawn."

Shawn took his eyes off his sister, who was now lying in her bed. He could barely stand up and was shivering. Stefan made him sit down on the chair next to Melanie's bed and tried to calm him down. Nothing was going to calm him down. Not unless she suddenly woke up.

"We should go." I said and caught Stefan's attention.

"Damon, I… I know that you and Melanie…" Stefan sighed and just rested his hand on my shoulder for a moment.

"Go, Stefan. Elena needs you right now."

Stefan nodded, but didn't go. "And what about you?"

I wanted to come with some smartass comment, but I couldn't. This was Melanie. She was my best friend and now she was dead.

"I… don't know." I sighed heavily, but Stefan didn't say more.

**The Salvatore Boarding House, December 25 2010**

**Klaus's POV:**

"C'mon… please work…" I said, dripping some more of my healing blood in her mouth.

It was dark in the guestroom, maybe around 3:00 AM, and here I was trying to do something that seemed impossible.

But both Greta Martin and Maddox assured me that this would work. I just needed to be patient. I leaned down to Melanie's chest and listened carefully for her heartbeat. I knew that she would wake up soon, because I'd had the ring I gave her enchanted and protected so that she wouldn't die if magic was used on her.

However, I didn't expect her to perform dark magic on her brother, so it wasn't sure that the ring would work. But I didn't want to give up that easily when I loved her so much. The night I rescued her from Jules, I finally understood what she meant, what she was trying to say to me. She wanted me to love her as much as she loved me. She wanted me to be willing to sacrifice my own life for her as she did for me. Twice.

"I would die for you, Frída…" I whispered into her ear, afraid that she wouldn't even be able to hear it because she really was dead. But I kissed her on those perfect lips of hers and a tear dripped down involuntarily in her mouth. "Please wake up… I need you."

This… this was hopeless. Of course it wouldn't work. She was dead. I sat up and looked at my sad mirror reflection. I was back in my own body temporarily, but I couldn't enjoy the feeling of being back in my body when it hurt so much in my heart. I felt like–

"Klaus!" someone gasped.

First I thought that Shawn or the others were here, but the bedroom was empty and quiet. Then I looked towards the gasping sound that came from my side and my eyes widened when I saw Melanie gasp for air desperately. I quickly helped her sit up and just put my arms around her, enjoying the sound of her beating heart. It was racing and pounding hard against her chest, but she was alive. My dear Melanie was alive!

"Klaus…" she whispered, still gasping for air.

I looked at her, cupped her beautiful face in my hands, and smiled brighter than I'd ever done in my life. She didn't say anything else, but just cried on my shoulder. "It is okay, Mel. I'll never leave you again; I'll never stop loving you, I…" I laughed a bit and sighed in relief.


	31. Speechless

**_A/N: Hi, here's chapter 30! :D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review!_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

**_Btw, it gets kindda M in this one - just so you're warned! 8D_**

Chapter 30:

**Mystic Falls**

**Melanie's POV:**

"Klaus, stop! We'll wake…" I bit my lip and looked at Klaus next to me.

"I don't care, Melanie. I'm not leaving you no matter what," he said and kissed me on my lips. I smiled and kissed him back, but was forced to stop because my body was so sore. "How are you feeling? Do you need some more of my blood or…?"

I shook my head and carefully sat up in my bed. What I needed was to let Shawn know that I wasn't dead. Therefore, Klaus carried me out of my bedroom and downstairs to the living room where I found Damon sitting on the couch, looking completely wasted. My brother was sitting next to him, looking just as wasted. I guessed that they'd been up all night, drinking their sorrows away.

"So much for staying sober…" I couldn't help but say and they immediately looked towards us.

Their eyes widened, but it wasn't only because I was awake. They were surprised to see Klaus when he was their enemy nr. 1. But I carefully stood on my own legs and supported myself to Klaus as I calmly approached my speechless brother.

"No, you're not dreaming, Shawn. I'm… I'm really back…" I said teasingly and before I could say another word, I was suddenly hugged tightly by him.

It hurt a bit, because of the soreness, but I endured the pain and just smiled. It felt like forever since I'd last felt Shawn hug me like this. I looked over Shawn's shoulder and noticed that Damon was beginning to tear up. Of course he tried to hide it, but I knew that he was relieved to see me alive. I mouthed a "thank you" to him and he finally smiled.

"Melanie, you need to eat," Klaus said behind me. Shawn finally let go of me and nodded agreeing. He told me to sit down on the couch, rubbed his tired eyes, and hurried in to the kitchen to make me some breakfast, while Damon and Klaus remained, staring at each other like two rivals. "Where are you keeping my brother?"

"Brother?" Damon repeated confusedly.

Of course he didn't know that Klaus and Elijah were brothers. I hadn't told them anything about it. "He means Elijah," I said. "Klaus is Elijah's brother."

Just as I said that, Stefan and Elena walked in, and I saw the surprised look on their face. Not only was I alive and Klaus was inside the boarding house, but now they also knew the truth about him and Elijah. But I pointed towards the basement and Klaus disappeared out of the room in a blur to go get his brother.

"Maybe you should all sit down…" I said and smiled weakly.

Hesitantly, they sat down and I began telling them about why Klaus really wanted to break the curse, why Milo had been so bent on keeping me from Klaus, and how I nearly died because I'd used dark magic with the help of the power in the ring and in Shawn's blood.

The reason why Milo didn't want me to learn how to cast spells like that was mainly that it had a downturn. The person who casted the spell, usually died, because you had to use a lot of power. Only very experienced magical humans were able to control so strong magic.

However, Elena still had some questions that she and the others wanted to ask me. "But what about Klaus? Is he still–"

"No," a voice said from the doorway. We all turned our head to Klaus, who was standing in the doorway with Elijah next to him. "I've chosen to stop pursuing my goal of breaking the curse that was cast upon me a long time ago. But… only if I'm free to continue my life with Melanie."

I could see that Damon, Elena, and Stefan didn't trust Klaus, but how could they? They'd been trying to save Elena from him and he _was_ the strongest and oldest vampire alive.

"I know you don't trust him, but Klaus will prove his loyalty to you. Right, Klaus?" I said.

Klaus nodded and looked at his brother. He seemed sorry about how things turned out between them and I _knew_ that he wanted to apologize. He'd gone too far with the pursue of breaking the curse on him and now he'd realized that. I'd actually succeeded in making him change his mind.

"Melanie, I'll leave you to rest now," Klaus said. "But let me know if Vladimir turns up again. I…" He looked at Elijah again, who immediately seemed to recognize the name. "_We_ have unfinished business with him."

"Wait!" I said and carefully got up. I hurried over to Klaus, stood on the tip of my toes, and whispered quietly into his ear. "I love you."

Klaus smiled weakly and gently stroke my cheek before he left with Elijah. I turned around and immediately smelled the scent of bacon, egg, toast, and newly made strawberry tea. Shawn had returned with breakfast, but everyone was thinking about everything besides getting breakfast right now and it felt like as if time stood still.

**Mystic Falls Motel**

**Klaus's POV:**

"Didn't you always use to say that '_Love is a vampire's greatest weakness, and we are not weak'_?" Elijah asked, while he buttoned his new shirt.

"No, you must have confused me with someone else named Klaus," I said and smirked, pouring another glass of red wine with blood. I handed it to Elijah, who swirled it around in the glass for a moment before he took a well-earned sip of it. "1714. A great year, don't you think?"

Elijah nodded and pulled on one of my black blazers, then sat down at the table and enjoyed the rest of his wine with me. I knew that he was thinking the same thing I was. Vladimir. Good old Vladimir. Our mutual enemy nr. 1, who had pissed us off more than once. We first met him in Russia in 1335, but back then he was not a vampire. He was a warlock and he even as a vampire, he still had his powers. He was a threat to me and therefore I tried to make him an ally rather than enemy…

"What about your goal?" Elijah asked. "I do believe that you'll do anything for Melanie, but I also know that you've put a lot of effort in breaking the curse."

I snorted. "Oh, Elijah… It's wonderful to see how much you trust your own brother," I said teasingly. "But don't worry. I have _other_ plans in store for my future. And those plans involve the love of my life."

Before Elijah could say anything else, he was interrupted by the sound of my cell phone that vibrated on the table. I glanced one time at it and smiled.

"Speaking of the devil!" I said laughing and opened the text. "I would like to say Merry Christmas, but… we've never really been too fond of Christmas, have we?"

Elijah shook his head and continued drinking his wine, while I grabbed my jacket and left, heading to my one and only, who had had the time to rest all day.

The sun was starting to go down; it was as if the colors and intensity of the light were just enough to calm you. The sun was like a great big romantic, inspirational fire in the sky. It would be as if a powerful symphony was quieting down, becoming more emotional and beautiful as it died down. Its rays seemed friendly. They reminded me of Melanie's breathtaking smile that always lit up the darkness in me.

I made a stop on my way to Melanie's home and instead of walking straight up to her front door; I went to her backyard and opened her window, sneaking inside while I could hear that she was talking with Shawn in the living room. They were talking about me. Melanie was expressing how much she loved me and how she trusted in me that I'd finally given up on my obsession.

**Mystic Falls**

**Melanie's POV:**

"Niklaus," was the first thing that came out of my mouth when I saw Klaus lying on my bed. I smiled brightly and quickly jumped on him, wanting to kiss him hours. I was craving for his lips and for his love, but Klaus stopped me after only a few seconds and looked so serious all of a sudden. The smile on my lips faded, because I was afraid that he had bad news now. "Are you leaving me?"

Klaus's eyes widened in shock, but he immediately shook his head. "Of course not! Why would you think such a thing?" he asked, snickering a bit.

I blushed and looked away, feeling so embarrassed for even bringing it up. Of course he wasn't going to leave me. He loved me and gave up his goal to break the curse to be with me. How silly of me!

"Then why do you look so…"

"Serious?" Klaus asked, reading my mind.

I nodded, but he just chuckled and gently stroked my cheek for a moment. He seemed lost for words and that was when I realized why he was here. I smiled weakly and blushed more.

We'd met in 1224, in 1714, and in 2010, but never had we actually… made love. But I was ready now and nothing could stop us. Not Milo, not his obsession, not… anything. I got up, locked the door in case Shawn returned early (he went to take care of some errands), and then looked at Klaus while I leaned against the door with a seducing look in my eyes and a flirtatious smile on my lips.

"We too have some unfinished business, don't we?" I asked teasingly.

Klaus smirked, but nodded and approached me faster than I could blink. He stroked my cheek and kissed my lips. I was cut off as Klaus slowly started to move his lips on mine. Our lips moved in time with each other and Klaus raised his hands up to my hair and tangled his fingers in it. His other hand pulled up to my face and cupped my cheek in his hand. I rose up his shirt and slowly started to feel Klaus's body. I was in a total daze and all I cared about was how good it felt kissing him.

"_Je t'aime_, Melanie…" Klaus panted through the hard kissing and touching.

I peeled off my jersey, he quickly removed my t-shirt, and I pressed my chest against Klaus's. Klaus started kissing my jaw line; he was leaning over me as he did so. He moved from her throat, down to her collar, then stopped and smirked devilishly. He touched my body so gently and passionately and I smiled when he gently kissed my stomach, while he unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them off. I smiled and unbuckled Klaus's belt with one hand using the other to run my fingers over his stomach. Damn, those are some freakin' hot abs! It felt like I was on ecstasy, but I was just high on love.

"_Je t'aime_, Klaus…" I panted and giggled as he gently placed me on my bed.

I was so ready for this and I could feel that Klaus had been ready for a very long time. But he didn't want to rush anything, because we were finally able to be truly together. We had to enjoy every second of this precious moment. Lola had told me a lot about her first time, but mine… it was nothing like what she described. It sounded kindda cheesy, but it felt like we were two entities that became one.

The minutes seemed to pass by very quickly and we ended up on the floor when we were startled by the sound of Shawn, who had come home and who was knocking on the door. Klaus shushed me to be quiet, but it was hard suppressing my laughter.

"_This is unbelievable…_" Shawn mumbled irritated when we didn't open the door. "_I just need to ask one thing. Klaus, are you in there?_"

Klaus was about to answer, but I quickly covered his mouth with my hand. This was so… embarrassing to say the least.

"Yes-yes, he is! Go-go away!" I yelled panting and burst into laughter.

I could sense that Shawn was rolling with his eyes and heard him sigh, but he left without saying another word. I looked down at Klaus's sweaty and very much naked upper body, and bit my lip shyly. Being a vampire and all, he didn't easily sweat, but I did and it was (sadly) very noticeable.

"You okay?" Klaus asked, still panting a bit.

I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder. I took a few deep breaths to calm my racing heart down and braided my fingers with his. I could stay with him on the floor forever, just kissing and maybe make some more unbelievable passionate love… Dear God, I sounded a wee bit horny there (!)

"Melanie?" Klaus said.

"Hmm?" I said and looked at him.

Klaus smiled brightly. "Will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

My eyes widened. Of all things in the world, he proposing to me was the very last thing I expected. But it was true enough. Klaus took out the ring out of his pants and handed it to me. It was the old ring he gave to me the day he proposed to Fleurette. Oh, how I'd missed this ring! But just like Fleurette did, the only thing I could do was to nod the rest of the night and I was just… speechless.


	32. Epilogue

**_A/N: Hi, here's the very last chapter! 8D_**

**_I hope you like it and please review!_**

**_IMPORTANT: I've been considering making a sequel to this story, so... if you want one, then just let me know :)_**

**_Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, story alerts, and your support! I didn't expect this story to get so many reviews, but I'm really thankful and hope that you've enjoyed reading my story :D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Epilogue:

**Mystic Falls**

**Melanie's POV:**

Shawn finally dared to come home around 9:00, but at that time Klaus and I were both fully dressed and making dinner as an apology for scaring him away. It wasn't exactly planned that we were going to get naked, but what had he expected? I was almost 18 years old and Klaus was – only God knew – how old.

But Shawn didn't hold a grudge and forgot all about it as soon as he tasted the fine dinner we'd made for us. We invited Elijah over too, because he _was_ Klaus brother after all and a good friend of mine. We didn't mention anything about what we'd done to him though (of very good reasons!).

"Shawn?" I said carefully, picking nervously on the hem of my jersey.

Shawn stopped eating with the fork still in his mouth and looked worriedly at me as if I was just about to announce to him that I was pregnant. Why did he always think badly of me?

"I'm _not_ pregnant!" I said irritated and crossed my arms. Klaus almost choked on his food, while Elijah remained calm. I rolled my eyes and shook my head of Shawn, who sighed in relief. "I just wanted to let you know that Klaus proposed to me. Look."

I stretched my arm out towards Shawn and he looked kindda dumbstruck for a moment. He clearly hadn't expected this coming. But Elijah seemed like he already knew that this would happen and simply congratulated us, then he sent his brother a weird look that I couldn't decipher what meant.

"I know I'm not Milo, but… isn't that a little drastic? I mean, you're only 17 and Klaus is…" Klaus glared at Shawn, so he stopped mid-sentence and said something else. "He's immortal, but still older than you. _And_ you, Klaus, should have asked me first."

Klaus narrowed his eyes a bit, but I quickly squeezed his hand under the table to calm him down. He still didn't like my brother even though Milo was trapped in my ring.

"That might be, but as you are not Melanie's father, it doesn't count." he said teasingly.

This time Shawn narrowed his eyes a bit and looked like he wanted to throw Klaus out of our house. I rolled my eyes of them and so did Elijah. They were going to be picking at each other and bickering for all of eternity…

Shawn sighed though and raised his hands in defeat. "Fine, I'll let you marry Melanie, but you're not allowed to turn her before she's at least 21 and when she turns 21, it has to be _her_ decision. Not yours. Got it?"

Klaus nodded and smirked. I rolled my eyes again. Guys – I couldn't live with them, but I couldn't live without them either! "You know what you two are?"

They both looked at me curiously and I continued. "Douche bags."

Elijah chuckled and raised his glass. "Indeed!"

However, after our very… um, let's just call it _interesting_ dinner, both Elijah and Klaus unfortunately had to leave and all I was left with was a deep, passionate kiss from Klaus that still lingered on my lips. I couldn't believe that we'd actually _done it_ after all of those years apart from each other. I couldn't believe that Klaus had proposed to me either. But I guessed that it just meant that he still loved me as much as he did in 1714.

"Hopefully, you did remember to use protection, right?" Shawn asked, making my whole face become flushed.

"Shawn, even if I didn't, I still can't get pregnant. Vampires can't reproduce," I said, remembering what Damon once told me. He did tell me that vampires still loved to try though, but I wasn't going to say that to Shawn. "But you _are _okay with Klaus proposing to me, right?"

I looked at Shawn, who was washing the dishes, but he showed no sign of being okay with Klaus's proposal. Why did he still dislike Klaus so much? Was it because he was a vampire? Or because he was thousands of years old?

"If you don't want me to marry him, then just say so." I said, frowning.

Shawn finally looked at me and was about to say something, but he changed his mind and sighed instead. I seriously didn't get what his problem was with Klaus. I didn't interfere with his relationship with Jules – even though it wasn't really him who dated her but Milo.

"I'm sorry, Mel. It's not that I hate Klaus. I'm just worried for you. You're my little sister. It feels like you've grown up too fast sometimes," he said. "I'm fine with you being engaged to Klaus, but just… just don't let him push you into becoming a vampire too. Kay?"

I nodded. I understood why he felt like this, but then again… It was his own fault. He could just have kept taking care of me instead of sending me to our aunt for five years. Though, I didn't say that either to Shawn and just hugged him. I was so happy to have my brother back and to be alive. But even though I was happy now, then I knew that the problems weren't over yet. Vladimir was still here.

**Denmark, February 14 2011**

**Klaus's POV:**

"Where are we going, Klaus?" Melanie asked impatiently.

"Somewhere," I said teasingly. "Nowhere. You'll find out soon."

Melanie groaned, but I simply laughed and gave her a kiss on her cheek. She had never been able to wait for more than five minutes, but I didn't mind. I loved her immensely and nothing was going to change my mind. If I had to choose between breaking the curse upon me and to keep Melanie as my fiancée, then I would always choose her. However, this didn't mean that I would stop trying to find a way to break the curse. But I couldn't tell Melanie that. She wouldn't allow it.

"We're here," I finally announced. "You can remove the blindfolds now."

Melanie quickly yanked the blindfolds off and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw where we were. With the help of a witch I knew, I'd brought her to where it all began. Where our _love_ began. We were standing in front of the old Clausholm Castle, the large Danish country house located some 12 km southeast of Randers in eastern Jutland. It had been restored a couple of times and the large Baroque park with its fountains and avenues was designed in the 18th century.

"I've bought the whole property," I said, because Melanie was too stunned to say anything. She finally woke up from her gaze and looked at me. "I thought we could spend the winter and summer here."

"You… _bought_ this place?" Melanie asked incredulously.

I chuckled, but nodded. "It's my birthday gift to you. After all, today _is _the very first time you turn 18, right?"

Melanie nodded sighing. I saw tears dripping down from her eyes and immediately knew that these tears were tears of joy. But I took her up into my arms and carried her through the courtyard, over the threshold, and inside our new home. She giggled and kissed me on my cheek, whispering a "thank you" sweetly in my ear.

"So… we _own_ this place?" she asked curiously, her eyes scanning every inch of the beautiful living room.

"Of course! Your friends and brother are welcome to visit us, but please do remember to tell me _who_ exactly you're inviting inside," I answered and gently put her down on the couch. Melanie nodded understandingly and I went to light the fireplace so she could warm those cold hands of hers, while she took off her winter jacket and looked curiously around. "Do you like it?"

"Very much indeed," Melanie smiled brightly and leaned back in the couch. "But who will take care of the house when we're not here?"

"I've hired a staff to take care of that and otherwise Elijah has said yes to look after it."

I took out a bottle of red wine from the liquor cabin and opened it, then filled two wine glasses with it. My newly hired butler Thomas then finally came with our fine dinner and the maids came with the many other presents I'd bought for Melanie. I guessed that I might as well spoil her now that she finally turned 18 after being cursed for 786 years.

"You didn't have to buy me all of these presents…" Melanie said, blushing greatly. "I mean, just that you took me here was enough."

"Nothing is ever enough for you, mon cherie. You deserve these presents and if not…" I said and smirked teasingly. "Well, then you'll never see what is hidden in that present."

Melanie looked at the present I pointed at and of course she was just too curious to _not_ to take a peek inside it. She quickly removed the wrappings, opened the box, and gaped with widened eyes when she saw what was inside it.

"Oh my…" she said and muttered something that sounded like a curse.

I'd bought her two Egyptian kittens. I remembered that she'd always complained – in both her life as Frída and as Fleurette – about not having any pets and how she completely adored cats. They suited her personality and fitted with the fact that she was very curious.

"You bought me two kittens?" Melanie asked in shock.

I nodded. "They're Egyptian Maus. A witch of mine told me that they'll protect you from evil spirits if you treat them right." I said.

Melanie began laughing for some reason, but I didn't stop her. I wanted her to be happy and to forget about our problems, because I knew that soon we would both have to make some choices, fight some battles, and protect the love we felt for each other.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked, smiling softly.

"Because I love you and if _you_ treat me right, then I'm willing to give you a present too," Melanie answered, smiling flirtatiously. I snickered and pulled her close to me, wanting to kiss those soft lips of hers and to listen to her heartbeat as it increased its pace. "I can't thank you enough for this."

I smiled and rested my forehead against hers, closing my eyes for a moment to enjoy her love for me…


	33. Preview to The Sacrifice

**_A/N: Hi, I noticed that I haven't gotten a lot of reviews on the sequel to Völva, which is btw already up, so here's a preview of it and please check it out if you can find it! It's called "The Sacrifice" :D_**

**_xoxo Ascha_**

Prologue:

Denmark, February 14 1223

Frída's POV:

"_I am truly sorry, dear sister, but you really should be focusing on your skills rather than those silly girls," Milo said in his usual demanding tone as he dragged me inside our humble home. He closed and locked the door, then turned to me with a frustrated look on his face. "I know that today is your 16th birthday, but I need you to finish your studies before you start working at Clausholm Castle. Do you understand?"_

_I nodded reluctantly and looked one last time out of the window at my friends, who were running around and playing with snow. I hated being a seeress sometimes, because I could not do the things that all the normal girls did. But it did save me from being wedded off to an old man whom I did not love. _

_However, as long as I still lived with my brother, then I would probably never fall in love. He scared the boys away and did not want me to waste my time with love when it was my duty as the only seeress in my family to protect and help the people. My brother was a shaman, yes, but his duty was to heal and cure the wounded and sick. He could easily hide his powers and simply appear as a talented doctor if he wanted to._

"_What do you want me to learn today?" I asked, removing my gaze from my friends._

_Milo moved two fingers and an old book flew from across the room and landed on the table in front of me. The words were written in Old Norse and bore a drawing of Scandinavian skin walkers on it. I had once read about these creatures, but the subject was very unmentionable in our family and everywhere else, because stories like the ones in this book were filled with legends and myths that might not be true._

"_I know that our parents would never have let me taught you about this so soon, but there have been an awful lot of strange animal attacks recently in the woods and I simply want you to be prepared for the worst."_

_I snorted, trying to understand what he was saying right now. He could not seriously be saying that these creatures truly existed. They were folklores and nothing more! Or that was what our grandfather used to tell us before he too passed away and left Milo to take care of me._

"_I am very much serious, Frída. These creatures may exist and I do not want you to die simply because you did not consider them a threat…" Milo sighed and shook his head a bit. "Just read the book, will you?"_

_I wanted to say no and leave our home, but I did not dare to disregard Milo's orders again. Last time I did so he made me clean the whole house without using my powers and then I had to wash the whole neighborhood's clothes. It was nothing but entertaining, but it was not surprising either. Milo had always been a very strict brother as well as teacher and acted like our father._

"_I do not see you reading..." Milo said firmly._

_I rolled my eyes discretely and moved attention to the book. I could not help but overhear the laughter of my friends outside and felt so… jealous of them. But I could not sneak out of the house, while Milo was still here, and was forced to read the 200 pages long book. It felt like I sat at the table reading for days rather than just hours, but once I finished it I quickly hurried back outside only to find no one but the lonely full moon that was looking down at me and lighting up the darkness of the night._

"_Help!" someone yelled nearby._

_My heart skipped a beat for a brief moment, but I quickly turned my head to the direction of which the voice came from and saw nothing but utter darkness. However, I knew that the voice came from the woods, so I grabbed my bag and walked through the snow towards the woods even though Milo on several occasions had told me that it was forbidden for me to go to the woods after the sun had gone down. I did not care about Milo right now, because he was busy treating the king's wife and therefore not here to scold me._

"_Help me!" the voice yelled again, this time closely and loudly._

_I picked up my pace and tried not to fall in the darkness as I walked past the tall trees and snow-covered bushes all around me. I could sense that something was terribly wrong here and wondered if this was a trick by a skin walker. I suddenly stopped abruptly, considering the possibility of what I just thought about._

"_Please, I need help! I am hurt!" _

_No, this could not be a trick. A woman needed my help and it was my duty as a völva to help her. I began walking again and soon found out that a woman __did__ in fact need my help. She had a deep wound in her stomach and was bleeding heavily. I wished that my brother was here, because he would be able to help her faster than I could. But I tried to calm her down and took a look at the wound as Milo had taught me to do._

"_What happened to you?" I asked worriedly._

_The woman tried suddenly began screaming and pointed towards something in the dark that seemed to frighten her. I armed myself with my dagger and tried to calm the woman down so I could hear who was here. If it was a skin walker, then I would have to get away from here as fast as possibly with the woman, but if it was just a vicious wolf, then I could easily handle the situation._

"_Hello? Who's there?" I yelled, not really expecting an answer._

_But I did get an answer in the sound of a loud growl that could only belong to a wolf. I saw the big, black wolf come out from its hidings. I moved my gaze to the woman to check if she was okay, because she suddenly became awfully quiet, but there was no one there. _

_Even the pool of blood next to her was gone, but the wolf was not. It began nearing me dangerously fast and went to attack me. I quickly shoved the dagger in its side and knocked it away from me before it could bite me. But the wound I had made quickly healed and it was then that I realized that it was a not just a wolf. It was a skin walker. And it was ready to lunge another attack, this time aiming for my neck…_


End file.
